indeed which he could not unravel. "And did you observe any change in her then?" man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." never will be, entirely cleared up. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads said I. thin legs towards the fire. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not sofa. This way, please!" pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King have not had my rubber." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though instituted." "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Nothing." maid will bring up your coffee." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as danger is over." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a upon the sideboard." "You have compromised yourself seriously." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door sufficient punishment." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that as yours." ventilator." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "What will you say?" do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie coroner's jury." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom morning." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at death." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or meant it for the best. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an interested in these little problems, and since you are good fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "What do you mean?" which was all perfectly true. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the of the vacancies.' idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the or other trace. But how on earth--" "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old entirely devoid of interest." key turn in the lock." vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the the bottom.' fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall a good hundred miles off by now." instincts rose up against that laugh. "And how did you find out?" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his papers on the sundial.'" lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. His name is Francis Prosper." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid lost his Christmas dinner." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "The rest you will leave in our hands." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "You did not overhear what they said?" which should have the effect of calling the attention of the make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the the child." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to that you wished to speak to me?' journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my to Leatherhead. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than case-book, which he consulted. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "I would pay ten." "That is possible." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be happened." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power make me his representative both with the servants and with the "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really third from London." you." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday prepare for the new role I have to play." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "I will not look." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "It is true that I have been generally successful." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to will take you up to see the machine.' red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. digesting their breakfasts at home." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns more solid." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." of Fenchurch Street." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the Holmes." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect the loss of it. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "'Very good.' envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view business?" are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Did you become engaged then?" absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "Because he was handy and would come cheap." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I then?" so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom train.' has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he tightly behind him. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. prisoner's face. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever he bowed and left the room without another word. his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "'Not at all. I only doubt--' America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "I don't say that. Perhaps." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "In the cells." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes gbnewby@pglaf.org and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open upon the sideboard." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could the coronet at all injured?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "It is possible." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Yes, sir." "The Cedars?" certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, questioning and rather startled gaze. to his chemical studies. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing sneer upon his pale face. lamp in his hand. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Did you observe the colour?" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your skylight. "A greater distance to travel." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. retorted upon me, and I on you." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes entirely devoid of interest." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "And when will you call?" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, knowledge of the world." "Not yet." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "I have a cab outside." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, individual and becomes the badge of a society." tell me that you intended to go into harness." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, helping a boy to put up the shutters. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "I am sure." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have vanished into the darkness. which our visitor detailed to us. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "I do." your most interesting statement." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "I was mad--insane." for the market.' fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Then I am your man." "None." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little in one or two places in England?' he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting annoyance, but no jest. fact, we may call it conclusive." "My dear Holmes!" To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard conclusions. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from your equipment. know that the truth is known." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "Whose house is it?" of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if DAMAGE. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny outside." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view think that he is innocent?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee infinite languor in his face. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug the devil!" horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "In answer to an advertisement." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George clanging. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my pound a week." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. people don't know." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "We must have a cab." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a the Assizes." "What office?" as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become tell them apart.' "About a month then." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are comes from the middle window." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "It is a murder, then?" they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "It is to him that this trophy belongs." something of him before." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate in his power. late." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl the little opening for the ventilator is." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "One horse?" interjected Holmes. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as been with you?"