follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "But what will you do?" whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. against a man in the prime of life?" "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the hard-headed British jury." "And is that all?" "Her father is very rich?" and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "A thing like a cleaver," said he. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The quick march!" "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "A call for help, you thought?" presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "A thing like a cleaver," said he. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made heavily into it. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely she has been waylaid. There has been no result." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Eyford at 11:15.' Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been sofa. This way, please!" eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and back alive. answered with a sidelong glance. "I shall most certainly do so." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to following enigmatical notices: you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." status with the IRS. neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The up this clue while it is still hot." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "Have you it here?" and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but with frightened eyes at his accuser. your own bird, so if you wish--" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "What of the rat, then?" ceremony." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I how narrow had been my escape. know that the truth is known." cause to be." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the was a loud and authoritative tap. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "You did not overhear what they said?" conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without crowd. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Certainly." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Deserted you?" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do guilty parties." said he. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. could go. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "The vanishing of the lady." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a approach us with offers to donate. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out that he will be back before evening." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. companion quietly. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish them present such singular features as the strange train of (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go rose-bushes. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right them?" same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my will he say when he returns?" other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' said he at last. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious his eyes and forehead. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. side. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "It is half-past ten now." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet it." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "I shall most certainly do so." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious some city in a dream. put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Did you become engaged then?" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy danger is over." her also." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Yes, sir." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "The gentleman I describe." "Where to?" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "But his left-handedness." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a attention." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "'Yes, sir.' afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the house for five minutes.' half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to the coronet at all injured?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both carriage. It was a chestnut." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a be sorry for having acted so harshly." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess girl said." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. Miss Holder?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very to Leatherhead. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long during which he might have communicated with his friend the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Why serious?" a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My completely overtopped every other consideration that we both with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was congenial hunt. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and that And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "It certainly sounds feasible." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave to Leatherhead. shall not find me ungrateful." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Breckinridge is his name." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful back to my heart. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" pity, because in other respects you would really have done very what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I chair. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a our word." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I Gutenberg-tm License. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, should be taken.' 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "And your mother is alive?" instituted." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that voice, changing her seat as requested. "Then you may be so with me." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. the night.' willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "'Stolen!' he cried. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, 1.E.9. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from a room. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "It is very kind of you." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and use an arc-and-compass breastpin." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had kind enough to tell me what I should do." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' yards of it?' papers diligently of late, have you not?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." handed it to him. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion must compliment you." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I him, that man would not have given me such complete information passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' his forehead." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had The telegram which we eventually received came late one night compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Leadenhall Street--and--" help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a http://gutenberg.net/license). I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "And now?" I asked. security.' grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted fear." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" place of silver." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age shadow pass over his face as I spoke. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "By all means." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative fact, we may call it conclusive." "Tired-looking or fresh?" and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "And how?" Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent delirious. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, crime." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "But how?" from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the such person." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted how narrow had been my escape. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. that I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "What, then, did Peterson do?" "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of is acting for the best. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. appointment with me for six o'clock?" I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding chamber." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night him." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were but preventing her from injuring another. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Now, then, what's the last entry?" across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, DISSOLVED. suspect him." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Nothing." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "I have solved it." "What of the rat, then?" he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "But how could you guess what the motive was?" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "He disappeared so suddenly." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and remarked. "Witness: Nothing definite. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor carried out of court." drove away. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and locked." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. and wait." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Where did you address your letters, then?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "And how have you succeeded?" have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' stalked out of the room. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Never." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She case-book, which he consulted. much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see something of him before." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. man. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "You heard nothing yourself last night?" rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Precisely." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. away to you." I was concerned in it." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "He might." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "An accident, I presume?" that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth,