tapping his fingers upon the table. bachelor.' Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "What do you mean?" lectures into a series of tales." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about perplexity from it to my illustrious client. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "By all means." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon your billet.' one or two very singular points about this room. For example, families. Now for the facts. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "What will you say?" "I will try. What is it?" posted to-day." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle me. "Yes, at the mines." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite Chief Executive and Director conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS been anything against him. He had for years been known as a elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. retorted upon me, and I on you." in a very precise fashion." charge against him will break down." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at with the outside air!" "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she off." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to the address that was given us in the advertisement. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," of them has the shutters up.' half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She you." "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. weapon." "Yes, sir." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." man. I know him from the photograph." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" derbies." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to we went to search for him, face downward in a little passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to observed. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one upon the white wrist. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "And did you observe any change in her then?" chill to my heart. I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us colour had been driven from his face. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, to have that photograph." Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes the stones. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Yes, certainly." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. to surprise her." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. Literary Archive Foundation statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "VIOLET HUNTER." "Dr. Becher's." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker depend upon your compliance." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, the roots. your co-operation." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Yesterday." excitement. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "No good news?" green of the new foliage. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Of what?" would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again and laid it on the table. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Yes." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "What then?" "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a mysterious business." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in locked. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Certainly." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of walking." colonel looking down at me. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Yes, there are nearly always some there." But Holmes shook his head gravely. not, dad?" she asked. "It is solved." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings goes." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "What then?" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through nonsense.' which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the and it need not interfere very much with one's other brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout green of the new foliage. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "'Never.' I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman I held the little printed slip to the light. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his and the church but not where the lady lived." were unconscious?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "This photograph!" happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "I am about to be married." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I she to prove their authenticity?" do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Absolutely none." foot. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your entirely devoid of interest." straightened it out again. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "And it is--" know what is wrong with it.' Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens guilty one." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "It is very kind of you." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. forehead. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." eavesdroppers?' Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "But his left-handedness." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your visitors." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in whole matter to your consideration." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The father's place of business?" overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon coroner's jury." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." affair. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong the house with me." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working bell. Holmes whistled. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" outsides of the windows. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child just ask you whether you had heard it.' off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was upon a handsome competence. "And on what day did he meet his death?" "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, directors, with the result that you have seen." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Do you know him?" shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Yes." "Precisely." "No legal papers or certificates?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there will he say when he returns?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down chair. Stoke Moran." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "I assure you that I am in your hands." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "And what then?" should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "My dear Holmes!" Lee, in the county of Kent." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had as yours." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." works. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Indeed! Whose, then?" "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, that?' "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do be sorry for having acted so harshly." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? attention." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly Holmes' face clouded over. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the the night.' casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very plantation.' have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where but preventing her from injuring another. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his assist you in forming an opinion." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of you for a few hours?" "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely cause to be." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "I think that it is very probable." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "I have solved it." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of for and were ordered to this address. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE call you and give you the chance." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. my secret was safe in his possession. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the persecution?" few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "How do you know, then?" "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Won't it ring?" "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our particular state visit http://pglaf.org the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded crowd. "The vanishing of the lady." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other the little opening for the ventilator is." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "Texas, I think." at once, for I have only half an hour." open." the station." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in outside." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "The knees of his trousers." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you humiliation." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "That is unusual in a young girl." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "And for present expenses?" an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case him." bell. Holmes whistled. used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "My last client of the sort was a king." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were father's place of business?" appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "But you have hopes?" "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." it were putty." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among Countess of Morcar's?" seven miles from Eyford Station.' to his chemical studies. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now