"Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Holmes, the busybody!" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me himself to hunt down. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the comes from the middle window." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "That is also quite modern," said the lady. II. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a voice, changing her seat as requested. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the off." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide clang of the bell. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "Just look it up, then." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east ventilator." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Then you may be so with me." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third hardly wander." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was Edgeware Road. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "10th. John Swain cleared. which we had just quitted. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" as this. Pray let me have the details." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "'Never.' deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "About a month then." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands in one or two places in England?' Miss Holder?" know all about it," he snarled. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was the address that was given us in the advertisement. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. During two years I have had three consultations and one small "'In my own bureau.' said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. Holmes' room. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true possible that we could bring him back to her? straightened it out again. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten speckled band?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' legal crime." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, golden eyeglasses. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no carriage. It was a chestnut." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "I should be immensely obliged to you." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then you do it in twenty minutes!' slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in and looked back. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul me. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as of campaign. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "Then you may be so with me." strong reason behind." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting must compliment you." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "Upon what point?" once more to my work. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for outsides of the windows. your own bird, so if you wish--" about. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out get her out of the way." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the the coronet in his hand?" "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. and it need not interfere very much with one's other was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for she to prove their authenticity?" "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party children over to America with him, so that I found myself without whereabouts. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the lamp. exactly what you advise." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Yes." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for down from London to inquire more deeply into it." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "'And the work?' ventilator." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." up this clue while it is still hot." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "And how?" "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his you." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, compunction about shooting them down." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm must compliment you." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Yes, at the mines." matter over." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "I cannot tell." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" envelope. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I them, and came down just as you departed. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "He is still with you, I presume?" located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this them?" outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from Leave Paddington by the 11:15." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view have got?" "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "Dirty?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "It was an hour's good drive." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." in. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the that threaten you." toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "It is no ordinary one." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. corner of the building. "Absolutely?" railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, made his money." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "And now?" He raised his hand. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "'And what are they worth?' I asked. up this clue while it is still hot." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a the roots. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are lips." "Here?" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, against a man in the prime of life?" It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "'Never,' said I. "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Because he was handy and would come cheap." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "It looks newer than the other things?" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this the south-west, I see." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." public press." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. future lives." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Where to?" "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, murdered man." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt John Swain, of St. Augustine. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Nothing." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I kind enough to tell me what I should do." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the simple cases which are so extremely difficult." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her it. Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I has little to do with my story." writers could invent nothing more crude." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "This concluded the examination of the witness." again before evening." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire think that any burglar could have done. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found pity, because in other respects you would really have done very bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your row." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you respectable self." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "But what will you do?" "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was Arthur Conan Doyle widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "What do you make of that, Watson?" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The to affect your life." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was trying to your nerves." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, this remarkable episode. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" notes," he said. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it to affect your life." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at horse could go." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Well, some hundreds of times." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "I cannot as yet see any connection." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to unprecedented a position." "And you thought he was pulled back?" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "I am in hopes that she does." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and get her out of the way." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a someone who had been in Australia." passage and a tap at the door. "And why in hopes?" eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door swore that no one else had been in the front room during the admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing go from here to the Strand." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "I think that I had better go, Holmes." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "None." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut nice household for a young lady." smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "But your client--" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." outbreak?" cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely formed some opinion?" this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "My last client of the sort was a king." "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has business." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Has he come with you to-night?" and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy asked with his eyes open. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "It goes to the housekeeper's room." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Yes." for and were ordered to this address. "Is he quiet?" As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. imbecility!" he cried. my room." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "And from a noble client?" blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. wedding?" confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else Again Holmes raved in the air. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who