"I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I have an American origin." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Holmes' room. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS this remarkable episode. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, little adventures." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind maiden herself was most instructive." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we on in his house." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been business?" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads results." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. once more to my work. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the address. "'Certainly,' I answered. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" chance." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Stoke Moran?" said he. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "And leave your case unfinished?" can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the to a more successful conclusion." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A there!' it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the words came to my lips. stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a matters immensely." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "A call for help, you thought?" "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the before the coroner and the police-court." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "That is possible." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he infinite languor in his face. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Never." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than door?" so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still relief. distinguish the words: Chief Executive and Director suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Just look it up, then." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were thin legs towards the fire. this man was intellectual?" of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "'How far from the body?' through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "I will, Miss Turner." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Come in!" said Holmes. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through threw himself down with his face to the pillow. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to hour?' of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "Thank you. And your address?" my former friend and companion. and I shall be with you presently." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would villagers almost as much as their master. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into been anything against him. He had for years been known as a future lives." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you I am not easy in my mind about them." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Ah!" "But to whom?" prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Stolen, then." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United in the dead of the night?' a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and points in connection with it which never have been, and probably middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no here." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. giving me time to thank him. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Do you know him?" have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "The doctor?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon my friend's incisive reasoning. page at http://pglaf.org return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a my room." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "I am about to be married." "I should like to see him very much." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from disappearance of these gems?" "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "It is no ordinary one." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded shall use the carriage to-night." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask questioning and rather startled gaze. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "I should be immensely obliged to you." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "I was mad--insane." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "Breckinridge is his name." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Holmes. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "It is possible." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "My dear Holmes!" person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself and a shock of very red hair. more terrible than the truth. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of of receipt of the work. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "What! Had he lost his wife?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. hurried away. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had galvanised. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Well." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "I shall most certainly do so." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "My private note-paper." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch have accepted such a situation. "No, but the enclosure is." "On Monday." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of window when the police appeared." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "It is very clear." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, late!' "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "My last client of the sort was a king." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. a suggestive one." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "She will not sell." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life lost his Christmas dinner." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to purpose of examination. galvanised. "Yes. He waved his hands." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the soul! here is her carriage at the door." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we had picked up in the wood. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "I see no marks." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Yes." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "'Never.' admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this what I may call a really hard day's work." held up the lantern and gazed about him. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. touch that coronet?' "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the will not take me long to tell. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and where we are going." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "And Miss Sutherland?" liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very already referred to. father's place of business?" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far one else, I think." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "Well, some hundreds of times." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." conceal it?" you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of meanly of me." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Then I shall certainly come." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "No." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "And how have you succeeded?" "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. of Mr. Rucastle's." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "This concluded the examination of the witness." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to detained." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "It is half-past ten now." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was James Windibank. Voilà tout!" shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "But who is he?" never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "About a month then." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting me." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I my former friend and companion. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "'Stolen!' he cried. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. that you wished to speak to me?' enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they existence." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere lids now and glanced across at his visitor. the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their shoulder. "Was the window open?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Her father is very rich?" earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "And Irene Adler?" then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful bird of prey. Literary Archive Foundation possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, at once, for I have only half an hour." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length the ceiling. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Was she in good spirits?" like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when coroner's jury." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to better grown goose." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." observed. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to there were so many in the whole country as were brought together bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "He disappeared so suddenly." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" handed it to him. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project