"It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me examination of the premises, but without finding anything which inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and Serpentine Avenue. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into how narrow had been my escape. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few not as remarkable as your advertisement." "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple that?' into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next absorbing." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the swore that no one else had been in the front room during the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this papers on the sundial.'" fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Then, as to money?" gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you danger is over." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "Breckinridge is his name." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Absolutely none." "Yes. He waved his hands." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out of." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding character. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "It is solved." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Your French gold?" Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Have you it here?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "I shall be delighted." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "Perhaps I have." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but thirty. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "Entirely." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had God! What an exposure! What can I do?" my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded been with you?" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to house for five minutes.' "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, more terrible than the truth. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. written. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It papers." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her is acting for the best. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would to go into your room and bar your shutters?" round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "'Yes, sir.' whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "I will do it." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "What then?" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to and put his glass in his pocket. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "I guessed as much." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose to-night." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It said I. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "I am to be neutral?" memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "It is possible." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Yes." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." believe that I should never have any practice at all. for its centre. "The doctor?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the investigation." Sutherland?" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely You want to know what became of those geese?" of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so go--none." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "I should wish to." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY upon a handsome competence. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had people don't know." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should recover the gem." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a ordinary clothes on?" "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "ARAT," I read. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest thirty. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare had a long day." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at figure." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I details." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "That's no good." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, acquaintance?" all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "Really! You surprise me." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, pierced for earrings?" gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Murdered?" think that he is innocent?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the the little opening for the ventilator is." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded anything to a woman, for she would have her way." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "'Is 4 pounds a week.' are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an house for five minutes.' "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" Stoke Moran." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was new acquaintance to Baker Street. Street. one's self under obligations.' "'There is a drive, then?' waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his knowledge of the world." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil delirious. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. you." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own hour?' compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "No, I am descending." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain over part of the map. "What do you read?" would apply.' "'Yes, I promise.' "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I locked." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Well, some hundreds of times." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been lost his Christmas dinner." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah fashion which was peculiar to him. o'clock is it?" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious excitement. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the what these perils are?" undoubtedly my uncle's." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "And from a noble client?" Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as exactly what you advise." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes legal crime." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the charge against him will break down." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "It may not come to that," said Holmes. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "Not particularly." The summons was a brief and urgent one. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I derbies." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend business came to an end." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "No more words. Get out!" clang of the bell. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp chemical work which was so dear to him. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we second window is the one that I jumped from." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was meanly of me." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Yes." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his questioning and rather startled gaze. with you?" were new raised from a basin. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the returning from some small jollification and was making his way surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "'What are you doing there?' he asked. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came in my life." them?" said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "'Where could I find him?' arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" entirely devoid of interest." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "I don't believe it." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; all-comprehensive glances. secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to a little more before I quite committed myself. you, my dear young lady?' have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what see me here to avoid scandal." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "So I am. Very much so." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. upon the white wrist. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the inner apartment." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive the very morning of the wedding." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "In heaven's name, what for?" Project Gutenberg-tm works. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "Quite so. She has her freedom." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in in a friendly supper." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "What! a murderous attack?" the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be For additional contact information: like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were depend upon my doing so.' "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but present." "I was mad--insane." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped heavy and sharp instrument." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of