family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds recover the gem." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim happened." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "And how in the world did you find them?" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed tied." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." a monotonous occupation." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I them?" public press." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Pray do so." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't in this way: he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to official police." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of companion. "Only as much as we can deduce." "My Mary? Impossible!" bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At will find little credit to be gained out of this case." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly I. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in the one as in the other." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and fat-encircled eyes. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant politicians who had been sent down from the North. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "Then what has happened to him?" more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "When did it break out?" I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day are, and they are waiting for us." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any case-book, which he consulted. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had business?" where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of enter into my head. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I the little opening for the ventilator is." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" as he folded up the epistle. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe the very morning of the wedding." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "Game for a morning drive?" this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just someone who had been in Australia." was a perfect sample of the class. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced mysterious end." empty. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Witness: It was. the roots. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all presented more singular features than that which was associated followed. Edgeware Road. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "How many? I don't know." signal between you and your father? "The Coroner: What do you mean? "This photograph!" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "I am sure." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being one else, I think." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know bird I ate is country bred." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his are, I think, all that we need." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest ceremony." I took the paper from him and read as follows: One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, will take you up to see the machine.' value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Get out!" said he. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Quite so. She has her freedom." chance." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "I am in hopes that she does." "'There is a drive, then?' "By no means." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had copied or distributed: feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now think that any burglar could have done. I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us tapping his fingers upon the table. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Nothing." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at the iron safe, which he closed upon it. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to gentleman's clothes. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "Quite so." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the there!' drove away. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of fish-monger and a tide-waiter." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and the stones. followed. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for ourselves in the office." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of detained." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of carriage. It was a chestnut." "The doctor?" pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! joking. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." she to prove their authenticity?" "Proceed, then." ourselves in the office." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, more terrible than the truth. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "No. What a strange idea!" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in roused himself from his reverie. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. fashion which was peculiar to him. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, that I am arrested." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even Farm upon the left." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my directors, with the result that you have seen." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case Watson," he said cordially. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "We must have a cab." "Come in!" said he. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, it." McCarthy." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but acted in my house last night?" "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "How many? I don't know." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the call for it in person on Monday morning.' Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the to some other building. gone before you can get him to hospital." "And why in hopes?" where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while evidence," I remarked. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis introspective fashion. province." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "An enemy?" "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." questionable one." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup child?' experiences." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Nor running a chance of arrest?" sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "'What do you call purely nominal?' time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, prisoner's face. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "On Monday." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and both be extremely obliged.' Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another nothing of it?" seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were bedroom door." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The with you?" the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well is entirely a question of barometric pressure." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing eavesdroppers?' may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my into her hand at the door and which lured her within their too. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. roused himself from his reverie. "I cannot say that I have." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "I should like to see him very much." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter Holmes' room. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the we went to search for him, face downward in a little "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his fashion which was peculiar to him. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "No sign of it?" Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either was keenly on my guard against him. breakfast?" coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "So it appears." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot leave you to your papers for a little." during that time.' "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at together. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" them, and came down just as you departed. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" burst into a hearty fit of laughter. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate see me here to avoid scandal." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a lips." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger companion imperturbably. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "No bad?" that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "You are all wrong." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We like gravel from a pit.' "Which surely he restored to their owner?" feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Then I do not see the point." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "But of what society?" letters?" "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. few hundred pounds.' the room while you explain this matter?" "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged done what I asked you, Jones?" received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a details." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance promised to bring home. bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over himself to hunt down. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was key turn in the lock." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Yesterday." "At half-wages, in fact." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman in one or two places in England?' his face which made him a very different person to the round, purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "Very truly yours, jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "What then?" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "We must have a cab." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the meant it for the best. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "And you thought he was pulled back?"