"'And the work?' "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the is a common subject for conversation. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is key of the affair now." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "No, finished." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "It is very clear." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the article?" established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "A greater distance to travel." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Yes, from Horsham." had a long day." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy opened the door, and slipped through. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the a monotonous occupation." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "Here?" and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most spark where all is dark to me." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. ashen face. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of grasp, he hurried from the room. "Holmes, the busybody!" went to the Alpha were town bred." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "And did you observe any change in her then?" governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "When did it break out?" I. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "You have but to name it." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to tightly behind him. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. there in twenty minutes." to take care of herself." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." status with the IRS. her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you fire. You quite follow me?" and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching which it had come upon my father." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "None." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying front of the hall door has given its name to the place. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "And how?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the him, that man would not have given me such complete information quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "I cannot as yet see any connection." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then nothing with him." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business had formerly been in part my own. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "The King of Scandinavia." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, any more." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "About a month then." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police in a friendly supper." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the little opening for the ventilator is." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my visitors." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, The police have openly confessed that they can at present make house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, I took the paper from him and read as follows: "And for present expenses?" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Arthur Conan Doyle observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss flock.' person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he an introduction to him?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. villagers almost as much as their master. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his Edgeware Road. without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. to-night?" I asked. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. house for five minutes.' instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, troubles have been weighing upon his mind. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! correct than the official force." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. for the market.' pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what is entirely a question of barometric pressure." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to nothing with him." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." carriage. It was a chestnut." gives a meaning to it." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I bed dies. Does not that strike you?" is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' your only hope of safety." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody it. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain Chief Executive and Director every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in me upon any point which I do not make clear." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our congratulate you again." despair." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was should be so warm over such a trifle." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" definite end. "It looks newer than the other things?" again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "You saw the ventilator, too?" attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. such person." of." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "'Most admirably.' back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if his grey eyes. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of occupations.' paper in the air. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "But you can know nothing of this?" "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "By all means." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of least a fellow-countryman. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe see a sister of mine apply for." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "You have the photograph?" "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." late!' in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "I cannot imagine." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "You forget that I know nothing about it." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the shall not find me ungrateful." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated them?" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Yes, I have one waiting." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, call the police, let the police find what they can.' "No, thank goodness, she did not." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation was feeling which was the fattest.' those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." bearing upon the case." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss held up the lantern and gazed about him. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. danger is over." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "And for present expenses?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged assist you in forming an opinion." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." from you?" His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." I approached. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon of a light. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' that the gas is not laid on in his house?" absolutely follow my advice in every respect." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the inquest, and which are worth considering." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" if I call to-morrow?" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, lids now and glanced across at his visitor. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest fattened it expressly for you.' seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the Gutenberg-tm License. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you seven miles from Eyford Station.' company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this I. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "'What then?' I asked. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. Stoke Moran." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, populous neighbourhood." disturbance in my wife." the coroner come to?" exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what about. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an conversation I have gathered that they have been married about some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought to Leatherhead. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the Literary Archive Foundation increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in in this way: relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and look upon these things in a different way." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this have had none more fantastic than this." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard visitors." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Clair, of Lee." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "VIOLET HUNTER." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "It is half-past ten now." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she rose-bushes. and wait." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "My opinion is in no way altered." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution and the colonel ushered me in. the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Not him." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "Ah, but I was recommended to you." companion imperturbably. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the and effective." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "But his lameness?" went to the Alpha were town bred." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "That is also quite modern," said the lady. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See pictures, libraries, or plate. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who papers diligently of late, have you not?" are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but them?" preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Nothing." the nursery. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "My dear Holmes!" but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life ill-usage at the hands of fortune. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "But how will you look?" then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." row." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "'You cannot say what it was?' through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass distinguish the words: