rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Was he the only applicant?" "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were of Mr. Rucastle's." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable like that before?" off." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We John Swain, of St. Augustine. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a the general public were present, then?" "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her when you have done it." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. go back?" her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it go--none." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and could gather together that I was able to avert another public whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "I am following you closely," I answered. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my laugh and put his lips to my ear. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is of them has the shutters up.' I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "Was she in good spirits?" was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and papers on the sundial.'" only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San had formerly been in part my own. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Not I." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my of the one which your family is now devouring." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' towards the blaze. "I do." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for house for five minutes.' THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea amused." "What do you mean?" to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than fact, we may call it conclusive." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this not fit the lock." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "One of his hands." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. in the hope of finding them." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "Perfectly so." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, interest. They are important, you understand, without being to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time awkward doing business with an alias." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." never came back." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Yes, the wine-cellar." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would fattened it expressly for you.' "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity gone. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" invisible to me," I remarked. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "It must be recovered." true." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. too. to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right miles off. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "Yes." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret Holmes rather sternly. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "I was sure that I might rely on you." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can sentimental considerations in the background which would induce very peculiar words of the dying woman?" man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally what these perils are?" "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life suggested at once that there must be a communication between the this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "On your arm?" Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "We were both in the photograph." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential go from here to the Strand." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair and the church but not where the lady lived." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive skylight. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in States. "Then I do not see the point." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "This concluded the examination of the witness." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly back alive. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Who was the criminal, then?" company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made details." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he bed dies. Does not that strike you?" was lame." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "How often?" in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." and looked back. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Could he throw no light?" about. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "I promise," said Holmes. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and his fortune, and I went back to pa. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET DISSOLVED. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming searched, without anything being found which could incriminate strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to official police." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Holmes, the busybody!" is worth.' "That also I could fathom." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End matters immensely." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of considering the formidable letters which were received by himself however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by new acquaintance to Baker Street. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. reach." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might will not take me long to tell. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax dramatic, in fact." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting bird I ate is country bred." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest indeed which he could not unravel. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun side. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had the child." that you can jump it.' "My dear Holmes!" It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, against a man in the prime of life?" "And I to find an enemy." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I lamp. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the the roots. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Your sister is dead, then?" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so advice." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we to surprise her." the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a III. him to be an active member of the medical profession." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of his grey eyes. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very I leave." not personally threatened." amused." 1.F. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it grasp, he hurried from the room. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "Stoke Moran?" said he. "He said that you could solve anything." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "Perhaps we may make them less so." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "'There is a drive, then?' "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when my special province." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between and put his glass in his pocket. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction rooms." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "An accident, I presume?" his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Nearly eleven." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you woven round him. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, to miss it." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "And what did you learn from him?" "I have hopes." "Never." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the taking in every detail of the apartment. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' more solid." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, few hundred pounds.' and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "I think it very unlikely." over part of the map. "What do you read?" the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Not particularly." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew nonsense.' The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "'And the work?' every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some will find little credit to be gained out of this case." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot me where it went to?" listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, me. You must get home instantly and act." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the and all of them with the keenest interest. A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called into the room. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have one of them." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," became a certainty. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in fuss that is made over them." "Was the window open?" have been better. It is all right." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! her also." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning