about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have congratulate you again." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest Cross for the Continent." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they will take you up to see the machine.' necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from never will be, entirely cleared up. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "And leave your case unfinished?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief with frightened eyes at his accuser. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I conceal it?" which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "How did you deduce the select?" are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. stood on the top of it. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Could he throw no light?" Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "But his lameness?" prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to conversation I have gathered that they have been married about lost nothing by them." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." astonishment. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others rat could hardly pass through." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to and I shall be with you presently." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not rooms." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "No good news?" the window, rose as we entered. "Her father is very rich?" say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Well." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do married her." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these looking up at the numbers of the houses." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the arms and began to sob in a high treble key. way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Yes, at the mines." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped your troubles." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "You horrify me!" this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as not fit the lock." said he. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person I have it here in my museum." I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." only touch the interest." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a detective. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from in a very precise fashion." "Was he the only applicant?" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" minor matters until to-morrow." happened." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "My Mary? Impossible!" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is showing my impatience. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Indeed! Whose, then?" gentleman's clothes. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated me. You must get home instantly and act." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were other means.' from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a like that before?" My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very with her." "Never." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'Where to?' "'What then?' I asked. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect for its centre. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry you in yours." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "I cannot say that I have." name is different." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, more solid." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "What! a murderous attack?" but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will weighed down with some great anxiety. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The arrested. You then--" course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature could gather together that I was able to avert another public stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry disappearance of the bride.'" "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they questioning and rather startled gaze. gentleman's clothes. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the since then to throw any light upon what became of him." hardly wander." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, bed dies. Does not that strike you?" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Quite so." "The Cedars?" chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his Cross for the Continent." "Imitated." Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the tragedy. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' him nearly every evening." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Stoke Moran?" said he. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had things are very often connected not with the larger but with the way: as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to held up the lantern and gazed about him. drawing your inferences." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he Sutherland. Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch companion quietly. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open was used.' "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main outside." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he point in the dark hollow of his hand. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, hopeless attempt at recovering them." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business wanted for ourselves." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a depend upon my doing so.' eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been you found me to-night--and running through the front room she The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "'What would be the hours?' I asked. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the over here." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "Yes, I have one waiting." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Did you observe the colour?" Street. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and followed. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked present strange and interesting features that it is no easy of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "I guessed as much." wanted for ourselves." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "I will do it." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black the address that was given us in the advertisement. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, stalked out of the room. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "But she could not love him." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything I nodded to show that I had heard. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a father's young wife. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. morning." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I up this clue while it is still hot." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, the side-table." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Nothing." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been the very morning of the wedding." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from outside." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and she to prove their authenticity?" singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Did your wife hear all this?" tear off another piece?' is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "'Yes, sir.' "I cannot think." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "ARAT," I read. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "I cannot imagine." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I with frightened eyes at his accuser. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and strength of mind to control. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has works. See paragraph 1.E below. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Here?" more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began Serpentine Avenue. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and asked. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the purpose equally well?" "Yes, but only for you and me." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "I assure you that I am in your hands." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had Edgeware Road. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Then I shall certainly come." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it flock.' d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "What are they?" "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "And on what day did he meet his death?" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Nothing." horse could go." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, the very morning of the wedding." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, your most interesting statement." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "Seven!" I answered. Watson," he said cordially. became a certainty. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "And you thought he was pulled back?" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "I say it is." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country said I. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is opened a pocket-book and took out a note. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one lectures into a series of tales." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the salesman. his eyes and forehead. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "One of his hands." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." instincts rose up against that laugh. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock me. You must get home instantly and act." guilty parties." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "And that is--" as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying seem to you to be relevant or not." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." so.' to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand behind me. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell him. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the