still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Yes." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this system of imprisonment?" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our could gather together that I was able to avert another public freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "In which, sir?" you." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should The note was undated, and without either signature or address. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his undoubtedly my uncle's." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy asked with his eyes open. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down begin with, and I had not got mine yet." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for the stable lane now." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "I will get her to show me." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "I have come for advice." fasten all the windows?" up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be stood on the top of it. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor as he remarks, very much against the son." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a again, where I was soon asleep. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the papers diligently of late, have you not?" other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking observed. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention me upon any point which I do not make clear." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "We were both in the photograph." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "You are all wrong." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, your room." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the companion. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband or other trace. But how on earth--" forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he your billet.' and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Then I am your man." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "How long did she speak to this Alice?" While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. hand, madam?" believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "To an English lawyer named Norton." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy Count Von Kramm." overpowering excitement and concern. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I The King stared at him in amazement. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the enter into my head. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the during that time.' 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even him, that man would not have given me such complete information hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening spark where all is dark to me." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "What of the rat, then?" left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only III. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Deserted you?" nothing with him." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "But you can know nothing of this?" "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man status with the IRS. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a bird I ate is country bred." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw there is a decided draught." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Nothing." I approached. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the inner apartment." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Tired-looking or fresh?" How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Nothing?" really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, remarked. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who voice, changing her seat as requested. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first more terrible than the truth. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "But to whom?" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a during the last few years, and there are many noble families to Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "And I." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately bearing upon the case." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All together. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go written. the dangers which encompass me." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "None." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "A client, then?" anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "He said that you could solve anything." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and yards of it?' of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of sufficient punishment." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Proceed, then." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, License. You must require such a user to return or "That is easily got." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! hopeless attempt at recovering them." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Why? What do you mean?" knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "You have but to name it." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" wedding?" hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Then I shall certainly come." went to the Alpha were town bred." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Your French gold?" repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he photograph?" actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first this unhappy family?" The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon constraint." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "Your French gold?" his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend frequently gained my first real insight into the character of possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was note?" of it with the greatest attention. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "The rest you will leave in our hands." is worth.' furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "And what did you learn from him?" earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the dead, shall be safe with us." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of vault. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake thin legs towards the fire. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on disappearance of these gems?" when you have done it." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of visitors." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "Not yet." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a signal between you and your father? the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each present." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to details." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Who was the criminal, then?" The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do like that before?" information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official once more to my work. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon results." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "Witness: Nothing definite. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly certainly do as you advise." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "And I." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "My dear Holmes!" analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? desk. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, orange pips. the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "You think that he is dead?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be Does that suggest anything?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Stoke Moran?" said he. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." me have 200 pounds?' 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope of fine shops and stately business premises that they really was not a bird to be seen there. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people I have it here in my museum." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "It was an hour's good drive." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "I cannot tell." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "BALLARAT." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the inner apartment." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "Then I am your man." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical examination of the premises, but without finding anything which hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Of what?" "I guessed as much." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to main points of my analysis." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "No?" Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in lamp in his hand. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" thirty. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "You think that he is dead?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce forecastle of an emigrant ship. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare upon the sideboard." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free The telegram which we eventually received came late one night business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense said I. more terrible than the truth. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window someone who had been in Australia." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my details should find their way into the papers. Inspector more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. pound a week." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "You have compromised yourself seriously." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept him to be an active member of the medical profession." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to do.' There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which situation." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to fatally injured? "'You cannot say what it was?' "What can you not understand?" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, here and I will read it to you: the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "I have my revolver," said I. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my yards of it?' to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "And how did you verify them?" front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with