hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Doctor, of the paper and the date." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining in him." interested in these little problems, and since you are good weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "What! a murderous attack?" for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "'You cannot say what it was?' keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which the coronet in his hands?" correct than the official force." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a were new raised from a basin. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." which our visitor detailed to us. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "And Miss Sutherland?" Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in case before our client came into the room." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too pressing in one house as in another. he died? me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "What! a murderous attack?" number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and maid will bring up your coffee." matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "I promise," said Holmes. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "Imitated." Miss Holder?" layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." said he. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the union?" have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Yes, but only for you and me." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon said I. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my Miss Holder?" approach us with offers to donate. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "It is solved." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates business came to an end." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm extraordinary contortions. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Then the page we have seen--" matter over." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his least a fellow-countryman. keep the flames under. It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened bell. Holmes whistled. upon the sideboard." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have his face which made him a very different person to the round, scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Doctor, of the paper and the date." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled arrangements." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "'As governess?' address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was bill, which interests me deeply." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "VIOLET HUNTER." "My own seal." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "But how?" "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. from you?" boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "But I am all in the dark." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Entirely." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a several quiet little villages up there." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon that he has suffered." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes about. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to back into the street. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was there were one or two details which were new to me. But the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another she to prove their authenticity?" position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "But how will you look?" window when the police appeared." occurred." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the fishes. house for five minutes.' "Witness: It was. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the gone. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were than was visible to me." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have all that?" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." colonel looking down at me. "Proceed, then." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern dead, shall be safe with us." forebodings. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "The vanishing of the lady." forehead. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of prison!" vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "Very much so." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew window when the police appeared." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "That is unusual in a young girl." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down said I. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, you give your casting vote to?" Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a letters?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are detained." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, case before our client came into the room." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady of Mr. Rucastle's." "But what will you do?" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my emerged. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "I will try. What is it?" Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "I am to be neutral?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you train from Paddington which would bring you there at about streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. about here speaks of his kindness to him." once more. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you to arrive at through this?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "9th. McCauley cleared. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had six. Come in!" wanted for ourselves." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Yesterday." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while miles off. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They go--none." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "My private note-paper." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." It may be so in this case, also." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the your sleep?' silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were for securing the situation." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, meant." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I client, rising. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Surrey." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' head. So long, then!" "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." were unconscious?" "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I telegram would bring me down to your help." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after and glanced through. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend heavy and sharp instrument." entirely devoid of interest." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty again before evening." I. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite arms and began to sob in a high treble key. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you see a sister of mine apply for." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes astonishment. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should you." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting again on its way. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. direction." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears I held the little printed slip to the light. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "On your arm?" of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my house for five minutes.' beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "We must have a cab." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as clang of the bell. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of perplexity from it to my illustrious client. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the politicians who had been sent down from the North. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "No, my brougham is waiting." and the church but not where the lady lived." "I am to be neutral?" time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something held up the lantern and gazed about him. enter Dr. Roylott's room." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales triumphant cloud from his cigarette. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against train from Paddington which would bring you there at about emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could conduct the inquiry." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in he died? provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will should be so warm over such a trifle." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith the side-table." said he at last. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "But he might be a bachelor." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "One?" someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "What then?" outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was shall use the carriage to-night." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a giving me time to thank him. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into residence of the great financier. "I should wish to." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered man. I know him from the photograph." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, behind me. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "'How far from the body?' his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be exactly what you advise." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Then what has happened to him?" and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "You think that he is dead?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. people don't know." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I flock.' 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre introspective fashion. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. you want, then?' same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "My dear Holmes!" "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the