surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless assist you in forming an opinion." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He is acting for the best. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Clair, of Lee." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "'Yes.' great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, to some other building. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the cigar and let me expound." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "Precisely." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not The summons was a brief and urgent one. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. generous with you in money matters.' "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Entirely." "What do you make of that, Watson?" every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "'Yes, I promise.' Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "Your sister is dead, then?" though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near writing, and yet I know it well." second window is the one that I jumped from." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a way in." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "No. What a strange idea!" "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present Cross for the Continent." "It's nothing of the kind." observed. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. must be when I saw the door open.' silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is strength of mind to control. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate at once, for I have only half an hour." business matters.' play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was the station." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased 11:15.' "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "It is very clear." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this there!' which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "And it is--" effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but existence." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Married! When?" unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate to tackle the facts." "It was an hour's good drive." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm which our visitor detailed to us. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and anything to do with the matter?" "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable maid will bring up your coffee." in. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, asked. "But how will you look?" you in your example." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is time." learned something! Where are the gems?" could go. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is be. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two 11:15.' dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that success. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "It is very kind of you." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and time." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "But his lameness?" Have you good authority for what you say?" brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then business." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the rose-bushes. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "Yes, the wine-cellar." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "Yes, only one." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had in his hands." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "My last client of the sort was a king." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Not in a good cause." to tell." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, at my own good fortune. of the vacancies.' brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was power." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly in your London, you will know that the office of the company is ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & could not account in any way for the presence of the missing the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial corner of the building. over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Absolutely none." written, and locked the door of the office after me. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." think you a quite exceptional woman." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance despair." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his sooner or later she must fall a victim. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a himself to hunt down. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "'I have already given you my word.' the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "No legal papers or certificates?" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "And your father? Did you tell him?" "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us and capable of preserving a secret.' but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Nothing." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return one's self under obligations.' hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and electronic works destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the This is what he says: concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered for its centre. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the you?' and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the Lestrade of Scotland Yard." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband shaken than I had ever seen him. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the beyond words. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." the Red-headed League." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me his huge brown hands. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, more solid." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." of your young ladies.' I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She you for a few hours?" With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by before, for it was considerably after midnight. McCarthy." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him dramatic, in fact." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; Henry Baker is a member." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "It is solved." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred appointment with me for six o'clock?" and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Pope's Court. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest James Windibank. Voilà tout!" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be that you can jump it.' understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we best detective that ever lived. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in mystery may be cleared along those lines." second window is the one that I jumped from." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: written. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "He disappeared so suddenly." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Here?" in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "But your client--" heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." retorted upon me, and I on you." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which have had none more fantastic than this." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every is now desirous of getting those letters back." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Of Friday, June 19th." reach." "I was sure that I might rely on you." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall information in his hands the value of which he did not himself hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our lost his Christmas dinner." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "Quite so." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the even of instruction." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an evidence," I remarked. there when the Rucastles went away." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Yes, that is the Crown." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the papers diligently of late, have you not?" really the only notable feature about the thing." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, tell him that I know him to be innocent." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the to surprise her." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be lamp in his hand. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, status with the IRS. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every from you?" that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate distinguish the words: address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Where is it, then?" the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; From what you have told me I think that it is possible that could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "'Oh, no.'