gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as a little more before I quite committed myself. you." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without the running down." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in Holmes rather sternly. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I habit of advancing money.' good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "The rest you will leave in our hands." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding constraint." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, examine." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "No. What a strange idea!" which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "And how have you succeeded?" "And Miss Sutherland?" is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Entirely." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your questionable one." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and side. "Not in a good cause." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands details." "Yes." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of carried out of court." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Very much so." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up business matters.' "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." place no limit on the sum I may draw." known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from young Openshaw's." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Ah!" window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "And Miss Sutherland?" read over the extraordinary announcement. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to made his money." you give your casting vote to?" there is a decided draught." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Did you become engaged then?" "What steps will you take?" I asked. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle completely overtopped every other consideration that we both other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange villagers almost as much as their master. appeared upon the scene." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret dramatic, in fact." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "'There is a drive, then?' go from here to the Strand." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to married her." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "He might." miles off. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have strength in the others." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Have you it here?" for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Then how many are there?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. them present such singular features as the strange train of singular points about the case. What did the police think of the the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend here and I will read it to you: "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole matter." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his asked. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "You horrify me!" down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should remarked. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "That is not always so easy." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so some place of shelter and let the county police know what has the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "Then I shall certainly come." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the my former friend and companion. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some cost them two and thirty pounds." minor matters until to-morrow." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "A thing like a cleaver," said he. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in outbreak?" brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place occurred." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Then you may be so with me." be there in time for your coming." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, records." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the hurried away. Heh?' with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." Mrs. Toller serenely. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "How do you know, then?" and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "I shall be delighted." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis she slowly sank and died without having recovered her row." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Where is it, then?" go from here to the Strand." hardly wander." do.' "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "Yes, they were peculiar boots." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." you." hands. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Then you may entirely rely on me." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "Yes." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Married! When?" whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly friend's singular character. and put his glass in his pocket. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is occupations.' the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by recover the gem." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day thin legs towards the fire. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done pity, because in other respects you would really have done very know all about it," he snarled. business in the City. She little knew what. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "But how did you gain them?" memory. the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite several quiet little villages up there." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there presented more singular features than that which was associated "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to to me. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Very murderous indeed." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "I see no marks." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his I held the little printed slip to the light. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." upon a handsome competence. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." Surrey." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Certainly." "No. What a strange idea!" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with villagers almost as much as their master. awaited us upon the table. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "Get out!" said he. from the brougham. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Quite so." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, get her out of the way." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same bell. Holmes whistled. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing *** START: FULL LICENSE *** ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "It is very clear." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." too. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the girl said." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He money should be paid at once.' son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "'It is locked up,' I answered. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project new acquaintance to Baker Street. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, wife's character?" "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "What office?" homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "I should be immensely obliged to you." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home their singular warning or token before them when starting upon and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, your sleep?' Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at pound a week." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Holmes." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his some city in a dream. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "None." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "Yes." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" His smile broadened. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes criminal. We have already had experience of such." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, upon a handsome competence. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." papers on the sundial.'" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "You horrify me." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "Were they all fastened this morning?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first his eyes and forehead. "In the cells." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his to arrive at through this?" had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which waste of energy." waste of energy." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Stoke Moran?" said he. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "It looks newer than the other things?" ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss without success. At last the little money which I had saved began sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "You have a clue?" least a most suspicious remark." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three client, rising. IS "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding mystery may be cleared along those lines." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Holmes rather sternly. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; matters immensely." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened States. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort society." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the The King stared at him in amazement. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "'How far from the body?' from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "Married! When?" my special province." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "'I am sure if I had known--' sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Yes." Have you good authority for what you say?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "'Yes, I promise.' forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be me have 200 pounds?' cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too stammered. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed retorted upon me, and I on you." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few returned to France?" nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which