o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "Where is it, then?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police a few minutes he said that it would be all right. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "But how?" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "I never have." "How are you getting on?" into her hand at the door and which lured her within their interest. They are important, you understand, without being high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very or other trace. But how on earth--" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "At half-wages, in fact." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He writers could invent nothing more crude." that I can to serve you." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family was used.' should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Then you may entirely rely on me." has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible there!' "And who is her maid?" protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the all that?" Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Never." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that stood on the top of it. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And our word." case-book, which he consulted. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time and looked back. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes to talk it over. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really imbecility!" he cried. "At the wedding breakfast." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "It was an hour's good drive." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "'And what salary do you ask?' "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "It must be recovered." present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern words came to my lips. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. colour had been driven from his face. until night should bring an explanation. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique crime." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had must be when I saw the door open.' The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "And why?" "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported just ask you whether you had heard it.' When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they swore that no one else had been in the front room during the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not dramatic, in fact." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." better in every way that they should make their position a little pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "A call for help, you thought?" found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very whatever might befall. furiously. that he will be back before evening." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "How did he come?" besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "I came to find a friend." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at tell him that I know him to be innocent." roused himself from his reverie. shaken than I had ever seen him. cheerful." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was would apply.' it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into the roots. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his chance." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his behind me. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, nonsense.' putting in the horse. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he could gather together that I was able to avert another public accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear words came to my lips. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "10th. John Swain cleared. you." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Then the page we have seen--" this poor creature." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He clang of the bell. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "In what way?" asked Holmes. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the is a common subject for conversation. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What charge against him will break down." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." noting anything else of interest. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Not in the least." "An enemy?" the ceiling. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. mystery may be cleared along those lines." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "And I to find an enemy." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Get out!" said he. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just tapping his fingers upon the table. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. his forehead." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his them?" out of this horrible affair." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "ARAT," I read. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Pool. in his power. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Stoke Moran?" said he. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman which it had come upon my father." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you direction." "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a individual and becomes the badge of a society." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind cheerful." between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief enter into my head. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I McCarthy." on in his house." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was placed his cuttings. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent is a common subject for conversation. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime better in every way that they should make their position a little could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. forecastle of an emigrant ship. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." have established a very serious case against the son of the "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' union?" "I answered that I had not. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more to Leatherhead. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off over with notes and figures. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to comes from the middle window." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of of." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." the south-west, I see." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily you in yours." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who down from London to inquire more deeply into it." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his would apply.' she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "I have seen the police." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "A greater distance to travel." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was shoulder; "he's all right." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "What do you mean?" skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and conduct the inquiry." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of and the church but not where the lady lived." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." derbies." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature you." Where does the thing come from?' "And Irene Adler?" "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the disappearance of these gems?" seven miles from Eyford Station.' "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us man. I know him from the photograph." upon an income of about 60 pounds." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. me. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Well." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "I am to be neutral?" "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left ashen face. a monotonous occupation." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the ill-usage at the hands of fortune. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father fire. You quite follow me?" distance from the station, and there we found the young lady get her out of the way." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to impression behind it as though a window had gently closed of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the Gutenberg-tm License. Holmes. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening our word." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Then I am your man." what I may call a really hard day's work." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A you for a few hours?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point unkempt, staring out at me. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Whose house is it?" has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you becomes even more simple." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "No." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "We have tried and failed." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "What do you make of that, Watson?" "I am still in the dark." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it the night.' We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "But how did you gain them?" "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" notes," he said. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back the very morning of the wedding." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by do you make of it all?" "Certainly." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go client, rising. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. again on its way. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a room had already been engaged for us. results." to arrive at through this?" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "A greater distance to travel." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "It certainly sounds feasible." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, again, where I was soon asleep. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "And help." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my get the tickets." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "Was your sister dressed?" time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Well?" I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for national property. I was determined that the law should have its gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "What are they?" gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my