cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "'And what salary do you ask?' have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'Never,' said I. and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we legal crime." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Have you good authority for what you say?" I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; when your master had gone out." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It there." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, really the only notable feature about the thing." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has people in all walks of life. him." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some empty. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, of Mr. Rucastle's." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to of campaign. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though guilty parties." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of bill, which interests me deeply." on re-entering her father's house?" King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. status with the IRS. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the waste of energy." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "I have hopes." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a narrative." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that delirious. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my stood on the top of it. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become key of the affair now." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the heavy and sharp instrument." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped child?' secret." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of breakfast?" took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, himself in a perplexing position. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & examine." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the emerged. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. empty. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, she to prove their authenticity?" society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." less than 26s. 4d. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Where, then?" even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "And how did you find out?" sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in imbecility!" he cried. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "So I heard. You have him here?" on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "I should like to see him very much." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "I don't believe it." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot existence." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to questioning and rather startled gaze. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he foot. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing it. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already new duties?' "No. His orders were to stay in the house." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. you." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "She told me to ask you." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a wanted for ourselves." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Yes." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "The King of Scandinavia." cup of tea. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" locked. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a companion. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. make me his representative both with the servants and with the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk to a more successful conclusion." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "Have you her photograph?" could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond again, where I was soon asleep. up this clue while it is still hot." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the too. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Witness: I must still refuse. husband's writing, madam." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "I have seen the police." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we something of him before." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down his huge brown hands. "I have seen the police." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be the stones. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "And how did he make his money?" "It missed him, then?" and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his through." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which American. Then who could this American be, and why should he case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of official police." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he nothing with him." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones in a friendly supper." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was felt the room to be a little close.' again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me clanging. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "I am about to be married." you." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He fluttered off among the others. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "Why, what do you mean?" rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to fluttered off among the others. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, of this gang." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a Stoke Moran." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. bled considerably." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. your only hope of safety." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my prepare for the new role I have to play." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. was a lad." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Just look it up, then." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. jewels which you have stolen?' "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "Who was the criminal, then?" but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "So it appears." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains laugh and put his lips to my ear. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such at my remark. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' there when the Rucastles went away." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a father's place of business?" "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." fasten all the windows?" "Yes." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "You are certainly joking, Holmes." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Absolutely none." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny hurried by. "Her father is very rich?" One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not tell them apart.' "Why, what do you mean?" closely." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "Seven!" I answered. you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire mysterious end." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now coroner's jury." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, in a very precise fashion." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "But his left-handedness." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I maiden herself was most instructive." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." companion. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was McCarthy." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "'Yes.' before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight secret." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an of the one which your family is now devouring." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and fact, we may call it conclusive." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "What do you make of that, Watson?" "It looks newer than the other things?" "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "'You doubt its value?' he asked. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "'What then?' I asked. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the morning." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Yes, only one." This is what he says: remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the prisoner's face. my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, bill, which interests me deeply." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "'You cannot say what it was?' characteristics, but those are the more obvious." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ Doctor, of the paper and the date." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "You forget that I know nothing about it." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I would apply.' her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and distance from the station, and there we found the young lady which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess must be when I saw the door open.' is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Then, as to money?" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, now. It seems that there had been some informality about their adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are invisible to me," I remarked. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Pray tell us what has happened to you." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. lost nothing by them." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter beyond words. "I will not look." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her signal between you and your father? better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern,