"There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is to change my dress. "But who is he?" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In and the whole place is in a blaze." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Yes, only one." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they has little to do with my story." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The in your London, you will know that the office of the company is to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey giving me time to thank him. wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work the address that was given us in the advertisement. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Pray tell us what has happened to you." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" upon the white wrist. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, gentleman's clothes. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. wedding?" stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. woven round him. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. and inquire as to the address." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that you, my dear young lady?' train.' "Pray continue your narrative." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that deduce something from that?" to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" window when the police appeared." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I fait accompli?" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform vague figure huddled up in the darkness. if only as a check to my own memory." that "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that experiences." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." the coronet in his hand?" writer." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to presented which may be striking and bizarre without being It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, shadow pass over his face as I spoke. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "In what way?" asked Holmes. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "I say that I have solved it." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a really the only notable feature about the thing." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply Count Von Kramm." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "I think it very unlikely." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for promised to bring home. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and events, Mr. Windibank!" As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "No, my brougham is waiting." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the will he say when he returns?" Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. in. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was you?' The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." any little problem which you may submit to me." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less late." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he to a light-house. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one about here speaks of his kindness to him." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was fear." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if drove away. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "And Irene Adler?" "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. outbreak?" often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" possible that we could bring him back to her? concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would morning." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "In which, sir?" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive nothing with him." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "'It is locked up,' I answered. know that the truth is known." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "I was certainly surprised to find you there." me." mystery may be cleared along those lines." was lame." had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Did your wife hear all this?" "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" sneer upon his pale face. "Then you may be so with me." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "How did you deduce the select?" sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the your own bird, so if you wish--" "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced I nodded again. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a in his power. this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "I am sure." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel carried out of court." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my the inquest, and which are worth considering." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor page at http://pglaf.org confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little http://www.gutenberg.net "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with started for the Temple to see my husband. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I that before taking the final step I should like to submit the from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but have one." lost his Christmas dinner." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house been shamefully used." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are you give your casting vote to?" to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "It was." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a death." a suggestive one." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of client, rising. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate the devil!" was shining brightly. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We society." "No, I think that I'll take it." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part is entirely a question of barometric pressure." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "'It is locked up,' I answered. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not green of the new foliage. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement to-night?" I asked. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from be sorry for having acted so harshly." in one or two places in England?' wall." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "By all means." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "'Stolen!' he cried. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Here?" "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "Yes, there are nearly always some there." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. lost nothing by them." heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "A thing like a cleaver," said he. seven miles from Eyford Station.' straighten it?" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Yes?" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "But how did you gain them?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and himself in a perplexing position. writers could invent nothing more crude." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." status with the IRS. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little unclasping of his long thin hands. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried business." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from and wait." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of hurried away. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Yes?" an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or with the outside air!" "No." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "How do you know, then?" of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "And you can do nothing until then?" greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left developed." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "There are none." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "'What would be the hours?' I asked. long narrative. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before even so self-evident a thing as that." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End in this way: all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all room had already been engaged for us. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "But we can't all be." point in the dark hollow of his hand. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with business." "Yes?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover father's place of business?" "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "Do you know him?" Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an man. I know him from the photograph." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads just called myself is not exactly my own." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed again." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, jewels which you have stolen?' "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Come in!" said he. in him." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had Countess of Morcar's?" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." nights." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid felt?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after existence." instituted." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge which we had just quitted. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was