"'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Yes, from Horsham." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "In answer to an advertisement." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" whether it answered to the description of any of their Holmes' room. notes," he said. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "But how could you guess what the motive was?" I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a said he at last. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "Come in!" said he. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from What do you deduce from it?" reach." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: death." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "No. His orders were to stay in the house." of note-paper. It read in this fashion: Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." brandy and water within his reach. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, this remarkable episode. telegram would bring me down to your help." shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my I nodded to show that I had heard. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "There is the writing." gigantic client. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get writing, and yet I know it well." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save now. It seems that there had been some informality about their like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "And what then?" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. father's young wife. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to all-comprehensive glances. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my comes from the middle window." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily once more. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a coroner's jury." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer to-morrow." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three that I may have something better before very many minutes are problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, is so. I know all about McCarthy." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: works. "Quite so." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the bare slabs of marble. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before his wife has ceased to love him." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the him!" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, pressing in one house as in another. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Where to?" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "My dear Holmes!" my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "Certainly." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We instituted." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his do.' "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue me where it went to?" breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "But not more so than I to find you." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for empty. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "And now?" I asked. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I answered with a sidelong glance. father's place of business?" How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the direction." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott third from London." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "None." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the results." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "'Ample.' three fields round his house, and there he would take his room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others think that he is innocent?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and footfalls from the street. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She perplexity from it to my illustrious client. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. disturbance in my wife." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by not interfere, come what may. You understand?" multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the stones. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." remarked. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Do you go out much in society?" "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' written. certainly do as you advise." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "Certainly." disappearance of these gems?" Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered few hundred pounds.' Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the kindly on the shoulder. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot appointment with me for six o'clock?" by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled The events in question occurred in the early days of my his huge brown hands. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making more solid." "You think so, too?" village inn over there?" "That sounds a little paradoxical." was already answered. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that voice, changing her seat as requested. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had London for the present?" him. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months orange pips. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "We must have a cab." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do both be extremely obliged.' "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Murdered?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "She showed me, as I told you she would." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our *** START: FULL LICENSE *** Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was guilty parties." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Come in!" said he. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. from the brougham. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' fled together." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that will not take me long to tell. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" that he has suffered." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "BALLARAT." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "Certainly." time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him ways including including checks, online payments and credit card imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "And Irene Adler?" residence of the great financier. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me people in all walks of life. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is the room while you explain this matter?" "Witness: It was. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a easy-going way." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the possible that we could bring him back to her? despair." before the coroner and the police-court." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young the night.' it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" this unhappy family?" "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. bird I ate is country bred." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point instituted." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "My dear Holmes!" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a cheerful." Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did rooms." "Where, then, is my wife?" giving me time to thank him. the tragedy. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the me what he had done with the three missing stones. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful I have it here in my museum." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers had formerly been in part my own. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "Entirely." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for over with notes and figures. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "How are you getting on?" objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "By no means." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and over his head with a sweet womanly caress. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" things are very often connected not with the larger but with the computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence along the entire front of the house, with three long windows were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, of fine shops and stately business premises that they really have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Then, how do you know?" clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and thin legs towards the fire. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "He is still with you, I presume?" "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "No, my brougham is waiting." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the closely." name is different." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "No, finished." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my everything which you would wish to know." shall use the carriage to-night." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "And you thought he was pulled back?" which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her outside." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that it? Did I buy the geese off you?" bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If face and glided from the room. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his were new raised from a basin. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger any little problem which you may submit to me." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Chief Executive and Director photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper six. Come in!" better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a with you?" compunction about shooting them down." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an your co-operation." "You think so, too?" "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank Street. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal the running down." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well