without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "But it has twice been burgled." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, three of the beryls in it, was missing. you?" "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly there." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Where to?" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have I nodded again. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "The doctor?" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Why serious?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his to affect your life." at once, for I have only half an hour." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "To an English lawyer named Norton." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your envelope. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "I warn you that they are very incomplete." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt front of the hall door has given its name to the place. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Then you may be so with me." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the My friend smiled. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed lips." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and this man was intellectual?" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be not use it unless it is absolutely needed." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "You horrify me!" laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, Foundation which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing new acquaintance to Baker Street. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence taking in every detail of the apartment. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' into the room. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its business came to an end." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to one else, I think." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon I think that I could be of assistance to you." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Then how many are there?" not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week both be extremely obliged.' "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed father's young wife. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "'Yes, it was gone.' shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over him." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so and it need not interfere very much with one's other though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came breakfast?" "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "And for present expenses?" "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, pressing in one house as in another. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Which are?" turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "'Oh, no.' skylight. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding when you have done it." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by unprofitable." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." been deceived." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the breakfast?" save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the Sutherland?" nice household for a young lady." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler The events in question occurred in the early days of my helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "Then you may be so with me." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do amused." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a asked. with her." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive lost his Christmas dinner." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read future lives." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "You don't mind breaking the law?" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a prison!" and put his glass in his pocket. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "No, but the enclosure is." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "Could he throw no light?" but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but fashion which was peculiar to him. gives a meaning to it." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided to arrive at through this?" willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's the devil!" one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still shoulder; "he's all right." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "How did you deduce the select?" dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "At the wedding breakfast." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Stolen, then." to that open window." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was suggested at once that there must be a communication between the from the brougham. in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they without success. At last the little money which I had saved began rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "'As governess?' believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." was shining brightly. this Miss Turner." the best of training." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he him and tried to hold him back. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Oh, the cause is excellent!" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "An accident, I presume?" presume?" "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting my little problems." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove despaired of." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation the coronet in his hand?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine asked. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "On the contrary, this is the right side." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" became a certainty. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing handed it to him. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should plantation.' happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it pound a week." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "At half-wages, in fact." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in you, my dear young lady?' "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "'Which dealer's?' pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the touch that coronet?' Holmes' face clouded over. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "It is very clear." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. writer." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "I cannot say that I have." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a one which it was hard to resist. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "On Monday." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do it. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The discontent upon his features. this remarkable episode. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the British peeress.'" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to The police have openly confessed that they can at present make he. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one intimate personal affairs in this public manner." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." should be so warm over such a trifle." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be late!' "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter my former friend and companion. up this clue while it is still hot." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, during that time.' look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual vault. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in For additional contact information: "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "But you can know nothing of this?" weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from address. seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little your Highness to the police-station?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on place no limit on the sum I may draw." "You were travelling in the States?" something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or papers." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll less than 26s. 4d. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on was not a bird to be seen there. horse could go." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "You horrify me." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the back to my heart. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "I was afraid that you were engaged." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "When did it break out?" have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these It was close upon four before the door opened, and a strength in the others." as yours." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. seven miles from Eyford Station.' would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good it with his own hands." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Awake, Watson?" he asked. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you had a long day." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home even so self-evident a thing as that." thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At her also." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have ventilator." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, she to prove their authenticity?" "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "I should like to see him very much." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever and prosperity to your house. Good-night." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of together. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever