"Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "And how did you verify them?" he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from so far?" spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and cause to be." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" you." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white the very morning of the wedding." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "We were both in the photograph." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch ways of our fellow-men." retorted upon me, and I on you." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the whether it answered to the description of any of their in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Here?" Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "But how did you gain them?" Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" was a loud and authoritative tap. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "And why?" caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, pressing in one house as in another. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able I have it here in my museum." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his made his money." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded letters?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have Sutherland. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began green of the new foliage. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and your only hope of safety." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly which our visitor detailed to us. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in the salesman. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point views." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "So I heard. You have him here?" stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Of what day?" Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I as he folded up the epistle. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest my former friend and companion. "That is unusual in a young girl." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. seen the man in the road." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the stammered. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be any little problem which you may submit to me." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Proceed, then." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the people in all walks of life. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an main points of my analysis." "Ah!" "My photograph." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." is acting for the best. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my best detective that ever lived. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "My last client of the sort was a king." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right weapon." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the and it need not interfere very much with one's other ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under with you alone." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "He said that you could solve anything." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to stepfather?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a business?" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "'Stolen!' he cried. that, and I came down." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the hard-headed British jury." I am not easy in my mind about them." be there in time for your coming." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at views." affection." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "What?" and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a round and wave him away like that.' I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and thin, with a long, sharp nose?" examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. your Highness to the police-station?" But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the whereabouts. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. were new raised from a basin. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman note?" most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I empty. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had at my remark. present." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Get out!" said he. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Deserted you?" make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the in the port of London." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Then I shall certainly come." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Witness: Nothing definite. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of right! Sit down and let us talk it over." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "We have tried and failed." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, do you make of it all?" learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an You want to know what became of those geese?" should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. Pool. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "How about poison?" "Ten will be early enough." are windows in it, of course?" served to weaken the effect. this man was intellectual?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. purpose of examination. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "It was an hour's good drive." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but desk. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander bare slabs of marble. round with crates and massive boxes. comes from the middle window." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to photograph?" going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to went to the Alpha were town bred." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms lost his Christmas dinner." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what me what he had done with the three missing stones. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin a room. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Yes." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Tired-looking or fresh?" the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Then he might have called to you?" keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Bought." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it morning." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was waste of energy." that there was nothing in it, after all." to talk it over. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "How did you trace it, then?" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not salesman. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is fatally injured? me. You must get home instantly and act." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "'What, the red-headed man?' wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small Doctor, of the paper and the date." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "I see many objections to any such theory." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been straighten it?" the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "But the mystery?" brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., following enigmatical notices: "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. tail." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary and the colonel ushered me in. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up Farm upon the left." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "My opinion is in no way altered." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be make me his representative both with the servants and with the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at row." "I never have." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came crime. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Yes, I have one waiting." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." for the market.' matter." "He is still with you, I presume?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in