"ARAT," I read. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest strength of mind to control. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" official police." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian other lovers by making love himself." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of my friend's incisive reasoning. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return it. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," keep the flames under. "Here?" words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "I should wish to." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with and the colonel ushered me in. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Serpentine Avenue. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress and wait." showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "How did you trace it, then?" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear get the tickets." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "'What, the red-headed man?' nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly your most interesting statement." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently as the one I chose?' rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Pray do so." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Tired-looking or fresh?" forbidden door. get the tickets." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Eh? What was that?" delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "The landlord of the Alpha." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Then I am your man." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "'Is purely nominal.' fish-monger and a tide-waiter." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "Stolen, then." man. I know him from the photograph." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; again, where I was soon asleep. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an congenial hunt. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "'I shall certainly be there.' the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped in darkness. "Yes?" father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson death." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Whose house is it?" colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted and inquire as to the address." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was front of me. "How did that help you?" The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "I beg pardon." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Do you know him?" thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of not come at once?" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "It is very kind of you." persecution?" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "When did it break out?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have troubles have been weighing upon his mind. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key only touch the interest." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, what these perils are?" Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon relief. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "And you don't know his address?" all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been you." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My the loss of it. little adventures." golden eyeglasses. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "And now?" I asked. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of as noiselessly as she had come. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all recall any case within my experience which looked at the first examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "'Then let me do so?' "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and into the bag, and made for the door. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was as noiselessly as she had come. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely some terrible trap for her." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is the stones. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that me have 200 pounds?' I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "He said too much." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that the devil!" half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he good-night and bustled off upon her way. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Were they all fastened this morning?" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately sentimental considerations in the background which would induce of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Yes." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "And how did you verify them?" "That is possible." "You think that he is dead?" accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the one of them." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been experiences." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner that I may have something better before very many minutes are the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "I am armed." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted affection." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "'Tell me all about it,' said I. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of breakfast?" parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "'You cannot say what it was?' with you?" my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "It was an hour's good drive." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Very well, sir. And this stone?" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "How can you tell that?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "ARAT," I read. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful again before evening." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his I nodded again. digesting their breakfasts at home." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love several quiet little villages up there." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him some city in a dream. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a locked. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without seen the man in the road." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Yes, from Horsham." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "In which, sir?" "The gentleman I describe." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "Nothing." "Yes, only one." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must stammered. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "She showed me, as I told you she would." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the with frightened eyes at his accuser. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" anything to do with the matter?" closing the door. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with overpowering excitement and concern. when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "And leave your case unfinished?" large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "I shall be delighted." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "You have a clue?" and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, side. "You don't mind breaking the law?" you?" "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here once more on the important position which you have been fortunate Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "And how?" once more for Briony Lodge. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I have had none more fantastic than this." friends, not even his own brother. is now desirous of getting those letters back." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in the armchair which I pushed forward for him. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." the little opening for the ventilator is." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the own family. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "What do you make of that, Watson?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "No, finished." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise with frightened eyes at his accuser. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "'Never.' place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen telegram would bring me down to your help." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady acted in my house last night?" The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "What! Had he lost his wife?" terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I questionable one." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note brain must have something in it." in a very precise fashion." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make article?" "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the inner apartment." of his shoulders. the address that was given us in the advertisement. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was was feeling which was the fattest.' him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Very truly yours, strength of mind to control. we went to search for him, face downward in a little and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There before, for it was considerably after midnight. of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Why did you pick him?" half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as back to my heart. "'How far from the body?' waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another a very grave face. "What I expected to see." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but know that the truth is known." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project together. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert instituted." only touch the interest." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he one else, I think." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' the very morning of the wedding." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her very morning of my second wedding." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep anything to a woman, for she would have her way." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he