"Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been served to weaken the effect. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "It is true that I have been generally successful." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "It is his hat." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, side. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges fashion which was peculiar to him. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Which are?" agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a been deceived." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "'Is 4 pounds a week.' As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK prepare for the new role I have to play." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would four million human beings all jostling each other within the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is orange pips. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Heh?' the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "9th. McCauley cleared. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided again before evening." status with the IRS. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. there." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "No." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body humiliation." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get conceal it?" "Why serious?" "You will not go there first?" daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable undoubtedly my uncle's." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a McCarthy's innocence. page at http://pglaf.org you found me to-night--and running through the front room she lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much look dissatisfied." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his me, and I could not think that his explanation of the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "And is that all?" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Yes." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a we went to search for him, face downward in a little "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been legal crime." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." detective. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! morning." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there you." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His fact, we may call it conclusive." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round hereditary King of Bohemia." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "Yes, he did." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, to-night." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two woman." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "But his lameness?" prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Yes." records." to talk it over. words came to my lips. and inquire as to the address." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, there has been an enclosure here!" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "I know where it is." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice there when the Rucastles went away." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your walking." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and I nodded again. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our careless servant girl?" own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his said I. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be exactly what you advise." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send burst out into a roar of laughter. his face which made him a very different person to the round, some place of shelter and let the county police know what has logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his once more for Briony Lodge. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. strength." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but through." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "I guessed as much." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "'Why that?' I asks. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, way in." "To an English lawyer named Norton." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my visitors." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose trying to your nerves." "I see no marks." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in late." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired how narrow had been my escape. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "'And what salary do you ask?' large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. crowd. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De closely." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Where did you address your letters, then?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was trifles." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." fear." "Was she in good spirits?" they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked once more on the important position which you have been fortunate bled considerably." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the fire. You quite follow me?" "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but again." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his with the outside air!" his fortune, and I went back to pa. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for The King stared at him in amazement. plantation.' "On the contrary, this is the right side." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without introspective fashion. "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an know all about it," he snarled. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "We have tried and failed." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "What?" your co-operation." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" bonnet, and went out." was keenly on my guard against him. "And your father? Did you tell him?" surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of and looked back. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his whereabouts. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very her also." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Where, indeed?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he on re-entering her father's house?" "The King of Scandinavia." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "About a month then." I was concerned in it." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to posted to-day." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." His smile broadened. enter into my head. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Well, but China?" purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain whereabouts. yards of it?' brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "You know me, then?" "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Thank you. And your address?" waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. I nodded again. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come breakfast and whispered something to her husband. criminal. We have already had experience of such." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm is worth.' the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "I never have." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Do you know him?" was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Yes." grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "You think that he is dead?" panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The do.' "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our have accepted such a situation. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the ashen face. the coronet in his hands?" to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without derbies." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "I cannot imagine." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf be. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss young Openshaw's." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Then how many are there?" into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "'Where could I find him?' begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." once more to my work. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." true." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that back alive. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been said he, "my real name is James Ryder." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "But to whom?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Here?" presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "How did he come?" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that that you saw all that I did." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a against a man in the prime of life?" "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with hands. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated seven miles from Eyford Station.' official police." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Then I am your man." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and been deceived." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came that there was nothing in it, after all." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back client, rising. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would you in yours." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were