up this clue while it is still hot." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of man. sneer upon his pale face. "And I to find an enemy." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter not within a twentieth part of the market price." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "He is dead," cried several voices. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable a few minutes he said that it would be all right. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out question you as to those details which seem to me to be most 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything appeared upon the scene." constraint." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me said he. "I cannot as yet see any connection." might help us?" "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Was your sister dressed?" "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever in your London, you will know that the office of the company is however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. south, for the country is more deserted there." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Was your sister dressed?" what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly nonsense.' attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "How can you tell that?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be most interesting one." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." had this final quarrel? outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did long narrative. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Yes, it was twisted." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our guilty one." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending here." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad him to go away.' hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all DAMAGE. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "My opinion is in no way altered." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Very well, sir. And this stone?" 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "I should be immensely obliged to you." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened the inquest, and which are worth considering." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious emerged. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your and the church but not where the lady lived." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is question," said Holmes, smiling. "I should be immensely obliged to you." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "The vanishing of the lady." "By all means." "Certainly, madam." "And how in the world did you find them?" "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "So I have heard." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "But how did you gain them?" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, disappearance of the bride.'" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "And what did you learn from him?" Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Deserted you?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Upon what point?" "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no in his hands." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had noting anything else of interest. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man down. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I what I may call a really hard day's work." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "In the cells." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "No, my brougham is waiting." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room morning." father's young wife. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "So I heard. You have him here?" desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham get the tickets." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it past. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself obstinate." anything to do with the matter?" "I should be immensely obliged to you." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, hand, madam?" "And did you observe any change in her then?" there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable that he has suffered." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre II. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" paper in the air. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I in the port of London." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. that you can jump it.' of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "What then?" facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle detective. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Texas, I think." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another and laid it on the table. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly generous with you in money matters.' Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in 'please.'" his eyes and forehead. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. you." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by not fit the lock." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "'In my own bureau.' to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Not social, then?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Have you it here?" success. "'What, the red-headed man?' "I was certainly surprised to find you there." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the Leave Paddington by the 11:15." married her." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was tell them apart.' "'Yes.' least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "What have you to say now?" Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. gone. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "It is true that I have been generally successful." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the away in different directions, and I went off to make my own sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. the south-west, I see." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "So I am. Very much so." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. certainly do as you advise." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended I think that I could be of assistance to you." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I upon the white wrist. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. that you wished to speak to me?' is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and child?' "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "How long did she speak to this Alice?" which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to his forehead." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Do you go out much in society?" exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the walking." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it locked." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Certainly, madam." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, and the colonel ushered me in. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By enter into my head. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was bearing upon the case." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer bird of prey. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Because he was handy and would come cheap." it means?" has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that I leave." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "And how did you find out?" and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in be there in time for your coming." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that shall use the carriage to-night." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "And I." "In San Francisco, a year ago." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort name is different." has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the nothing with him." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Murdered?" whole matter to your consideration." "An enemy?" important." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what mysterious end." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "'Where could I find him?' colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. his grey eyes. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" morning." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An behind me. shall use the carriage to-night." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "'Which dealer's?' lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully ventilator." chance at all." "And that is--" "What do you mean?" he bowed and left the room without another word. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?"