grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Yes." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "Certainly." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "At what time?" is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too answer." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it there was no need for father to know." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." interested in these little problems, and since you are good social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "You are certainly joking, Holmes." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "'Is purely nominal.' who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed you understand?" the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his Have you good authority for what you say?" cause to be." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "I will do it." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the not within a twentieth part of the market price." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this young Openshaw's." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to entirely lost his self-respect." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to fled together." "It missed him, then?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Yes." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. in a very precise fashion." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" in his power. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Your French gold?" time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and character. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set me." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His lost nothing by them." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "'What would be the hours?' I asked. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. murdered man." Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" shoulder. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was threw himself down with his face to the pillow. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting and I shall be with you presently." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me and glanced through. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, I am not easy in my mind about them." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort results." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest had formerly been in part my own. presented more singular features than that which was associated "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "'Entirely.' highly," said Holmes. "Yes, that is the Crown." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my new acquaintance to Baker Street. be.' "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we gives a meaning to it." "'And the work?' "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "I assure you that I am in your hands." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in Farm upon the left." could go. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "What shall I do?" prove to be little relation between the different incidents of with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My of." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "It must be recovered." than was visible to me." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." Where does the thing come from?' we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "I cannot think." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg his knees, staring into the fire. following enigmatical notices: "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. annoyance, but no jest. hour." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Was he the only applicant?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Yes, I have one waiting." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Seven!" I answered. could go. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "And leave your case unfinished?" all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "You have compromised yourself seriously." dramatic, in fact." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Yes, but only for you and me." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "Her father is very rich?" who was a member of your goose club." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was details." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. garden below. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "You are all wrong." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "What! Had he lost his wife?" the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, remarked. the matter." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured head. So long, then!" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at The police have openly confessed that they can at present make that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had you." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "I answered that I had not. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. ourselves in the office." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "'And the work?' who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Ten will be early enough." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "I am all attention, madam." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" business matters.' creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Witness: Nothing definite. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." upon the shelf for the interim." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were that you saw all that I did." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "But his lameness?" his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were and a shock of very red hair. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you there in twenty minutes." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down outbreak?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "What I expected to see." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events his forehead." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, meant it for the best. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the weighed down with some great anxiety. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Yes, it was twisted." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Deserted you?" side. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used late." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did beg that you will break it off." "And why?" country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Ha! you find it so?" back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking to have that photograph." leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "That is unusual in a young girl." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "'What are you doing there?' he asked. my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of both be extremely obliged.' would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this chemical work which was so dear to him. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in sound at heart." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried bearing upon the case." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the true." feature." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking new duties?' "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Then you may entirely rely on me." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of congratulate you again." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "None." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." fasten all the windows?" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "What!" he roared. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "And you don't know his address?" grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "I think that it is very probable." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can question you as to those details which seem to me to be most this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "'A dozen yards or so.' in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "I think that it is very probable." which our visitor detailed to us. "And it is--" the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "'Is purely nominal.' of receipt of the work. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "You forget that I know nothing about it." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the with some details as to your case." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "It is half-past ten now." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "You horrify me!" impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "The landlord of the Alpha." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "Yes." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I unprecedented a position." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off my former friend and companion. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or