benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have could not account in any way for the presence of the missing we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best I approached. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw less than 26s. 4d. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an one's self under obligations.' and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism in a very precise fashion." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "They are typewritten," I remarked. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "'I have heard so.' you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Her father is very rich?" You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would bedroom door." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a bill, which interests me deeply." "The King of Scandinavia." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous events than those which have happened in my own family." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Yes." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very humiliation." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was His name is Francis Prosper." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Dirty?" have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded to his chemical studies. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. been with you?" but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is most interesting one." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a and your relations to her." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which she slowly sank and died without having recovered her what is your own theory as to what took place?" through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ You can understand that this register and diary may implicate elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "But his lameness?" sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in do you make of it all?" trying to your nerves." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. might help us?" danger is over." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Then he might have called to you?" you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." even of instruction." "By train from Waterloo." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment absorbing." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his I held the little printed slip to the light. cost them two and thirty pounds." "'Yes, it was gone.' matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily lamp. who was a member of your goose club." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "I answered that I had not. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I me. You must get home instantly and act." "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." invisible to me," I remarked. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with away in different directions, and I went off to make my own diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." way: Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which your Highness to the police-station?" not interfere, come what may. You understand?" cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and returning from some small jollification and was making his way I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into tied." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting so.' "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" that?' her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to right! Sit down and let us talk it over." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His was a perfect sample of the class. drove away. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "And how did you find out?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, country, and eventually married, without anyone having a those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the spark where all is dark to me." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! as noiselessly as she had come. outsides of the windows. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "In answer to an advertisement." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Then you may be so with me." him. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the true." I shall communicate with you." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been or other trace. But how on earth--" "It goes to the housekeeper's room." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found nothing with him." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I This is what he says: quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "What can you not understand?" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "The rest you will leave in our hands." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was has little to do with my story." "You will not go there first?" another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "We have tried and failed." nonsense.' work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's to-morrow." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "At what time?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "What is it?" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Won't it ring?" yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, tied." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers bell. Holmes whistled. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. of." maiden herself was most instructive." "In heaven's name, what for?" "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each said he at last. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by there." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me results." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been thirty. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. were wasted." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "And that is--" the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "I have come for advice." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed himself to hunt down. and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off His name is Francis Prosper." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as good for you to do.' gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was like that before?" his forehead." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which one which it was hard to resist. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that enter into my head. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could very old mansion. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "I am following you closely," I answered. fuss that is made over them." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped father's place of business?" it." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the next day. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "By all means." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from something of him before." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas the coroner come to?" that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's his face. always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "It is possible." cheerful." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned It may be so in this case, also." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Well." the bottom.' appointment with me for six o'clock?" that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time mysterious business." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much point our research must commence, and we will begin it by Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been troubles have been weighing upon his mind. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Yes." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, This is what he says: "BALLARAT." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Absolutely none." shall use the carriage to-night." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "I have my revolver," said I. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a galvanised. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "What! Had he lost his wife?" License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of again." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" wedding?" "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Did you observe the colour?" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "May I see it?" Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, retorted upon me, and I on you." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his gentleman's clothes. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than my room." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "I was sure that I might rely on you." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "That is easily got." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "'Where to?' fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "My Mary? Impossible!" that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what tell me that you intended to go into harness." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "It is very kind of you." "But what will you do?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Here?" "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was test if we have an answer to our advertisement." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." coat-tails." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "Then the page we have seen--" "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now there." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the speckled band?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "That sounds a little paradoxical." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than nothing of it?" just called myself is not exactly my own." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an away to you." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' in one or two places in England?' "No." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing questionable one." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from train.' I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "How can you tell that?" his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "But she could not love him." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily