"Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still towards the blaze. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and followed. "What will you do, then?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a see me here to avoid scandal." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, such attractions and accomplishments?' had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we to tell." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged public press." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming it." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well of receipt of the work. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "I cannot think." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I your bag." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, cigars in the box." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, ill-usage at the hands of fortune. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out goes." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "I see no marks." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him strength." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it the loss of it. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "And how did you find out?" lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "No?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "I am about to be married." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "You have compromised yourself seriously." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Nothing?" cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand promised to bring home. the general public were present, then?" "But you would not advise me to refuse?" human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." my former friend and companion. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper despaired of." "And leave your case unfinished?" in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely had died away into the silence from which it rose. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, It may be so in this case, also." "And now?" He raised his hand. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from results." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "I have seen the police." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "I promise," said Holmes. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard be sorry for having acted so harshly." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I quick march!" and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a started for the Temple to see my husband. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "On the contrary, this is the right side." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and father's place of business?" equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "And on what day did he meet his death?" came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and at home. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "What then?" terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Does that suggest anything?" International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact strength in the others." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short situation." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my you?" the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "Your presence might be invaluable." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, house for five minutes.' cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for to affect your life." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The placed his cuttings. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon as this. Pray let me have the details." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Her father is very rich?" "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Yes. He waved his hands." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." 1.F. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. on in his house." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had colonel looking down at me. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and upon the sideboard." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "'Which dealer's?' hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to again, where I was soon asleep. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "It was an hour's good drive." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham conceal it?" "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," weighed down with some great anxiety. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and breakfast." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or of his shoulders. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in enough to aid us in our search." "Look there!" said he. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "'You cannot say what it was?' "How many? I don't know." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was eavesdroppers?' foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has What do you deduce from it?" the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing behind me. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose you." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the for and were ordered to this address. once more to my work. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in as yours." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. residence of the great financier. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "'Very good.' reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots imbecility!" he cried. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was advice." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" have been better. It is all right." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "I fear not." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears the house with me." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "That is possible." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Very much so." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" them?" paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," fasten all the windows?" "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and depend upon your compliance." the so-precious time, but come!' "Breckinridge is his name." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "I cannot tell." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your the child." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in this man was intellectual?" of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "No, I had a dozen." sufficient punishment." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "How did that help you?" signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few any." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. strong and stiff." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch there when the Rucastles went away." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "A thing like a cleaver," said he. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of wedding?" my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my conduct the inquiry." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "No." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the station." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. head. So long, then!" know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a stepfather?" do.' have had none more fantastic than this." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the lectures into a series of tales." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, possible that we could bring him back to her? possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the tell them apart.' writing, and yet I know it well." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the now. It seems that there had been some informality about their children over to America with him, so that I found myself without What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King Stoke Moran." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no since then to throw any light upon what became of him." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was it." "And I say east," said my patient. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Pope's Court, Fleet Street." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. points to suicide?" Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen away to you." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "My dear Holmes!" shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of more terrible than the truth. you." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Married! When?" TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "That is easily got." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "This concluded the examination of the witness." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "Not social, then?" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "No, I think that I'll take it." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will which should have the effect of calling the attention of the the roots. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our woman who has had her own way to make in the world. one which it was hard to resist. cheerful." "On Monday." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the Serpentine Avenue. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "Yes, sir." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "I fear not." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Could he throw no light?" fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" memory. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular