in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only mystery." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "It is to him that this trophy belongs." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy without a word or a look. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just the bed, and you in that chair." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of unclasping of his long thin hands. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. all that?" "No sign of it?" Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Nearly eleven." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "It came here." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the devil!" "Bought." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, notes," he said. "Where is it, then?" sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny awaited us upon the table. system of imprisonment?" the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then you in your example." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "Stolen, then." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a tell him that I know him to be innocent." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "I was afraid that you were engaged." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "Never." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Look there!" said he. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. noble correspondent could be. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal humiliation." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United ashen face. gbnewby@pglaf.org away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and manager. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that not personally threatened." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." cigar and let me expound." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about during which he might have communicated with his friend the considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the unclasping of his long thin hands. "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. your Highness to the police-station?" chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of not come at once?" "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, crime." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my south, for the country is more deserted there." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "A call for help, you thought?" Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very again on its way. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than affair. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a instincts rose up against that laugh. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, business?" highly," said Holmes. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "'What would be the hours?' I asked. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I front of the hall door has given its name to the place. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to showing my impatience. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad to go into your room and bar your shutters?" I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. page at http://pglaf.org One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it morning." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been prove to be little relation between the different incidents of lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "To ruin me." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, I am not easy in my mind about them." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "'Never,' said I. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the you in your example." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" even of instruction." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep washing it down with a long draught of water. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "His face fell immediately. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it said I. of his shoulders. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen tapping his fingers upon the table. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching his grey eyes. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "'And the work?' minor matters until to-morrow." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two that he will be back before evening." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE seen the man in the road." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a this poor creature." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to arrangements." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' are, I think, all that we need." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not to-night." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you and put his glass in his pocket. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, possible that we could bring him back to her? safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove just ask you whether you had heard it.' down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at then?" slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room http://gutenberg.net/license). Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong away into the river." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could mysterious end." "By no means." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police Countess of Morcar's?" always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' people in all walks of life. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the were new raised from a basin. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "Nothing?" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "No, I had a dozen." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study look upon these things in a different way." which we had just quitted. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and Holmes rather sternly. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an some city in a dream. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "I see no marks." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "No, I had a dozen." in the port of London." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been chance." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I been deceived." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible the stable lane now." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and six. Come in!" without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Has he come with you to-night?" savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "I cannot imagine." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step fat-encircled eyes. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she my room." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a voice. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" your most interesting statement." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the that, and I came down." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." unprofitable." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be vault. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated quite distinctive." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying nonsense.' had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, over with notes and figures. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "And help." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with said he. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Not social, then?" roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. washing it down with a long draught of water. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. the ceiling. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and of the way of danger. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in you in your example." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over is acting for the best. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the system of imprisonment?" "I cannot imagine." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my one of the states of the Union." his huge brown hands. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has promised to bring home. waste of energy." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger which we had just quitted. twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. a monotonous occupation." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "What?" bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "But she will refuse." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to more solid." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows