other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Certainly, madam." matter." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce this poor creature." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was bird of prey. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not jewels which you have stolen?' lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. Serpentine Avenue. digesting their breakfasts at home." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at me have 200 pounds?' if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Where, then?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see cost them two and thirty pounds." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "It was." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to death." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous guilty parties." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; the salesman. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of noble correspondent could be. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to respectable self." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "What will you say?" by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable with the outside air!" save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that to tell." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Why, it's a dummy," said he. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "I came to find a friend." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that been deceived." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I sound at heart." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in good-night and bustled off upon her way. seem to you to be relevant or not." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his some place of shelter and let the county police know what has of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my I have it here in my museum." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "It is his hat." "'Oh, no.' a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed know that the truth is known." new duties?' corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a any." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either once more for Briony Lodge. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I system of imprisonment?" borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the the nursery. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "He disappeared so suddenly." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more case before our client came into the room." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! spare." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. overpowering excitement and concern. late." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" must be when I saw the door open.' "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by foresight and the moral retrogression?" "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "You will not go there first?" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "And why?" little trying to do so much typewriting?" lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too careless servant girl?" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may open." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Upon what point?" steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before the ceiling. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled I took the paper from him and read as follows: Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as me upon any point which I do not make clear." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had highly," said Holmes. maid will bring up your coffee." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we Holmes' thin, eager face. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Breckinridge is his name." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, in my life." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "The Coroner: What do you mean? and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to congratulate you again." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the License. You must require such a user to return or acquaintance?" unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "I see many objections to any such theory." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "10th. John Swain cleared. Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at crime. are, and they are waiting for us." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, his face. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. happened." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek leave you to your papers for a little." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case in your London, you will know that the office of the company is Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Where to?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the peculiar to him. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great passage and a tap at the door. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Ample." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." despair." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a on in his house." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For most interesting one." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same Does that suggest anything?" glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was investigation." guilty one." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian and wait." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his think that any burglar could have done. the running down." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little fatally injured? arrangements." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." seven miles from Eyford Station.' Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "How often?" conduct the inquiry." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into James Windibank. Voilà tout!" have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "What do you make of that, Watson?" wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon possible that we could bring him back to her? while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Stolen, then." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the felt?" lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to and I shall be with you presently." "How often?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I legal crime." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Yes." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found them?" trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "'As governess?' Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child standing smiling on the door-step. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Then, as to money?" quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "Frequently." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. the child." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles has little to do with my story." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? You want to know what became of those geese?" "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the John Swain, of St. Augustine. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "No sign of it?" 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Ah!" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this pity, because in other respects you would really have done very him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and said I. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is upon the sideboard." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my evidence," I remarked. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "My opinion is in no way altered." "Ten will be early enough." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "A thing like a cleaver," said he. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk chemical work which was so dear to him. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to with you?" the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second shall use the carriage to-night." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "I cannot think." been with you?" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We of the way of danger. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew to a more successful conclusion." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid threw himself down with his face to the pillow. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "'There is a drive, then?' "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "I was sure that I might rely on you." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "You horrify me." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his morning." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "Only as much as we can deduce." his fortune, and I went back to pa. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. unprofitable." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "That is easily got." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a unkempt, staring out at me. between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything would apply.' "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, come either from the window or the door. My attention was have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one have I gained?" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or it." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Yes." "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "Never." absorbing." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. matter."