"I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "Was he the only applicant?" "By no means." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. the stones. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "It looks newer than the other things?" customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, himself. to-night?" I asked. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a the general public were present, then?" "Precisely." justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a of Mr. Rucastle's." Street. than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' giving me time to thank him. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Frequently." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for distance from the station, and there we found the young lady had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would returning from some small jollification and was making his way how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." Holmes." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William of receipt of the work. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, paper in the air. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "But how?" the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. directly by questioning you." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right extraordinary contortions. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Pray let us have it, for all that." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "'Why that?' I asks. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the are, I think, all that we need." "The murder was done with it." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I memory. the salesman. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "No, my brougham is waiting." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." system of imprisonment?" actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking friend's singular character. "And what did you learn from him?" desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "What have you to say now?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing DISSOLVED. "'As governess?' my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "In which, sir?" We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "What, then?" beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Really! You surprise me." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "One horse?" interjected Holmes. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey bare slabs of marble. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came been lifted and conveyed somewhere." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of to have that photograph." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and stood on the top of it. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "What will you do, then?" absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "Dark enough and sinister enough." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Have you it here?" would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could was shining brightly. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in stepfather?" this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down to go into your room and bar your shutters?" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers and no precautions can guard against." there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, them?" "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "I cannot as yet see any connection." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to him to be an active member of the medical profession." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. cigars in their mouths. is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the miles off. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money country, and eventually married, without anyone having a near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the village inn over there?" Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' burst into a hearty fit of laughter. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he one's self under obligations.' "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "I shall be delighted." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "No good news?" "That also I could fathom." coat-tails." of his shoulders. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, colour had been driven from his face. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of like that before?" lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, the south-west, I see." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know appointment with me for six o'clock?" providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance despaired of." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "'Stolen!' he cried. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than a room. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Yes, sir." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, people don't know." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." pierced for earrings?" was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was that he has suffered." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a it. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from triumphant cloud from his cigarette. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was that you saw all that I did." photograph?" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the furiously. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord you give your casting vote to?" upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we think that he is innocent?" money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, present." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we but preventing her from injuring another. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." investigation." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of three of the beryls in it, was missing. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "What shall I do?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no maiden herself was most instructive." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let anything to do with the matter?" About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "No, but the enclosure is." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at had picked up in the wood. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler despaired of." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or attention." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers back into the street. a little more before I quite committed myself. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection could not account in any way for the presence of the missing stammered. be best to do. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can to have been novel and of interest." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I mystery." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with colonel looking down at me. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Upon what point?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the matter." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other started for the Temple to see my husband. "They are typewritten," I remarked. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Literary Archive Foundation fire. You quite follow me?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was me what he had done with the three missing stones. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "But I have heard all that you have heard." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in considering the formidable letters which were received by himself any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, wedding?" seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an enter into my head. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in tapping his fingers upon the table. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "'And the work?' "You will not go there first?" his huge brown hands. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I letters?" his eyes and forehead. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill what is your own theory as to what took place?" the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to gone. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before remarked. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "Which surely he restored to their owner?" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon awaited us upon the table. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the pound a week." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were help us in this matter." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "'Oh, no.' "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. relief. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "And I." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a secret." depend upon your compliance." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Leave Paddington by the 11:15." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit I approached. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that British peeress.'" letters?" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "And how did you verify them?" "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "Do you know him?" me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "This concluded the examination of the witness." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a