opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "You horrify me!" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge the very morning of the wedding." could go. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Count Von Kramm." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Dirty?" given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, before, for it was considerably after midnight. just ask you whether you had heard it.' him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a him." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said Have you good authority for what you say?" "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on just ask you whether you had heard it.' of a light. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of that either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the read it out to me." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper and that he would see to anything that turned up. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, a little more before I quite committed myself. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "One?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his could not have written that. It is the German who is so "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as any." "Certainly, madam." nice household for a young lady." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had enough to aid us in our search." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "'Entirely.' "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, Holmes." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years works. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "Always." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "That is easily got." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "The doctor?" which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He feature." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of stalked out of the room. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "I have my revolver," said I. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Nothing." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "Stoke Moran?" said he. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "She showed me, as I told you she would." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "'Yes.' something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard him, that man would not have given me such complete information frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded off." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if house for five minutes.' "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had them?" "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' three of the beryls in it, was missing. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "But you were on a friendly footing?" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with brought there to personate someone, and the real person is flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had recover the gem." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "I have a cab outside." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by with her." coroner's jury." so.' gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner because she had spent so short a time in this country that she outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a companion imperturbably. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Certainly." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "It was a confession," I ejaculated. Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of and a shock of very red hair. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" following enigmatical notices: tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect your only hope of safety." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "You'll never persuade me to believe that." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. written. said I. observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" such person." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close my friend's incisive reasoning. for its centre. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in Pool. friends, not even his own brother. I. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "He said too much." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country article?" sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work my special province." chemical work which was so dear to him. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. forecastle of an emigrant ship. these bleak autumnal evenings." Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "I cannot say that I have." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in troubles have been weighing upon his mind. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Murdered?" matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at upon the shelf for the interim." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Well, some hundreds of times." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And giving me time to thank him. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as photograph?" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Then how many are there?" II. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in assist you in forming an opinion." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. for its centre. side. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I the coroner come to?" lamp in his hand. definite end. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and second window is the one that I jumped from." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Then I do not see the point." 1.F. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Was your sister dressed?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "At half-wages, in fact." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "What can you not understand?" "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking answer." "You horrify me." than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until pound a week." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were death." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the taking in every detail of the apartment. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be already referred to. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "'There is a drive, then?' "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "And sit in the dark?" fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Mary, has deserted me." "'What do you call purely nominal?' that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before amused." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of that you wished to speak to me?' and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "I say it is." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how the bed, and you in that chair." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though at a side door. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by when you have done it." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite Have you good authority for what you say?" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Dr. Becher's." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through wedding?" I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The next day. "Very much so." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of III. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his way in everything. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "I have seen the police." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year went to the Alpha were town bred." drove away. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "At half-wages, in fact." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a had died away into the silence from which it rose. the matter?" "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. I took the paper from him and read as follows: your sleep?' grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern cigars in their mouths. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "That is easily got." "Tired-looking or fresh?" with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will forecastle of an emigrant ship. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, success. best detective that ever lived. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave have not had my rubber." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I wall." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary really the only notable feature about the thing." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and passage and a tap at the door. said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of said he. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong were wasted." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." the roots. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down said he, "my real name is James Ryder." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Entirely." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "'You cannot say what it was?' Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS imbecility!" he cried. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at four million human beings all jostling each other within the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "What!" he roared. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' thought that she would have been so carried away." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in