reach." to a light-house. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their touch that coronet?' stood on the top of it. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at fear." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at despair." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely Pool. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric papers must be those that are destroyed.' elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up should be so warm over such a trifle." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the other means.' photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of visitors." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He hand, madam?" I approached. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. remarked. more solid." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." and the colonel ushered me in. "Then the page we have seen--" beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Oh, fresh and glossy." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "It is possible." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "But you were on a friendly footing?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you and all of them with the keenest interest. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to used to be." I shall communicate with you." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, introspective fashion. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the tightly behind him. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." some terrible trap for her." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "When did she vanish, then?" jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "I was sure that I might rely on you." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her looking up at the numbers of the houses." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "And I." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' jewels which you have stolen?' to you." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out man. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself joking. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done have had none more fantastic than this." "And for present expenses?" for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to crackling voice. "In answer to an advertisement." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some his forehead." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "And on what day did he meet his death?" "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the to-night's adventure." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my chemical work which was so dear to him. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just bled considerably." as this. Pray let me have the details." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' for the market.' "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "But you were on a friendly footing?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees even so self-evident a thing as that." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three that he has suffered." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down closing the door. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Look there!" said he. "Really! You surprise me." be sorry for having acted so harshly." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in to that open window." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "No." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "But you would not advise me to refuse?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea door?" very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than enter into my head. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him back alive. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, me upon any point which I do not make clear." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Perfectly so." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads here." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "What is it, then--a fire?" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use to-night." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me flock.' my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "And that is--" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "What office?" point in the dark hollow of his hand. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "How on earth--" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." forbidden door. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "What! Had he lost his wife?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For figure." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for wedding?" furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "I have my revolver," said I. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "What can you not understand?" however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be place no limit on the sum I may draw." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in vanished into the darkness. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my manager. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at spare." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "It goes to the housekeeper's room." roused himself from his reverie. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in feature." "9th. McCauley cleared. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was over part of the map. "What do you read?" chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear tear off another piece?' its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom chance at all." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her delighted to hear it," he said. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "If so, much may have happened between." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net wedding?" seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Could he throw no light?" an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been happened." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of Where does the thing come from?' story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "It is a murder, then?" heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of extraordinary contortions. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I should wish to." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I voice. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." congenial hunt. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are distance from the station, and there we found the young lady could not have written that. It is the German who is so "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and letters?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy becomes even more simple." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking interests were the same as his." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And some place of shelter and let the county police know what has including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "No, my brougham is waiting." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel tension within him. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed get the tickets." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo because she had spent so short a time in this country that she pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself back into the street. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was you do it in twenty minutes!' firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and infinite languor in his face. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me wall." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a be there in time for your coming." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Two days later this same performance was gone through under ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Yes, sir." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "Do you go out much in society?" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to his grey eyes. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was again before evening." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of signal between you and your father? shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Never." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "What will you say?" "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in enter Dr. Roylott's room." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He as he remarks, very much against the son." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "May I see it?" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a detective. again before evening." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I wedding?" Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Ah!" "What can you not understand?" that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to bird I ate is country bred." if she died from some sudden fright."