"Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "So I have heard." "Have you her photograph?" "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." carried out of court." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking get her out of the way." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a delirious. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." gone. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "'And the work?' Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel at my own good fortune. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems be best to do. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "'As governess?' heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing occurred." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of be. "What?" coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "Here?" "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and despair." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of there when the Rucastles went away." taking in every detail of the apartment. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being have got?" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." it with his own hands." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Look there!" said he. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "That you are never beaten." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, have had none more fantastic than this." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic tapping his fingers upon the table. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. delirious. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "No, thank goodness, she did not." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "And what then?" what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time lamp in his hand. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with test if we have an answer to our advertisement." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, indeed which he could not unravel. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I seen the man in the road." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Just look it up, then." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his coroner's jury." "And help." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "It goes to the housekeeper's room." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "That is not always so easy." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be himself to tell his story. heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' October 9, 1890. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "And is that all?" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, third from London." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to photograph?" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "'Certainly,' I answered. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used I am not easy in my mind about them." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my have established a very serious case against the son of the to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "Nothing." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he I shall communicate with you." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed I nodded to show that I had heard. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are be. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise goes." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, room had already been engaged for us. in a very precise fashion." instituted." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the be there in time for your coming." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had were unconscious?" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand in his hands." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His too. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ hurried away. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the happened." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "'Ten to two.' description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just appeared upon the scene." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous silent! Oh, he will be silent!' and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." nonsense.' and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so habit of advancing money.' the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "How do you know, then?" took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, recall any case within my experience which looked at the first repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "My photograph." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and has little to do with my story." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "I will not look." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "'Never,' said I. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "'Yes.' "Not particularly." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and noble correspondent could be. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and formed some opinion?" "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not held up the lantern and gazed about him. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "It is possible." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "A call for help, you thought?" was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready relief. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my row." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she occupations.' "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the have been better. It is all right." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "How on earth--" of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove daring than any effort of the imagination." "Who was the criminal, then?" "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" of Fenchurch Street." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of delighted to hear it," he said. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he triumphant cloud from his cigarette. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in will be renamed. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." into the room. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." Project Gutenberg-tm works. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was photograph a cabinet?" exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "You horrify me!" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Will you go?" "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the was a perfect sample of the class. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Foundation "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "About a month then." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Do you go out much in society?" "Oh, yes, easily." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "But not more so than I to find you." been deceived." "'Very good.' part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black she slowly sank and died without having recovered her freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Look there!" said he. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so putting in the horse. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't very peculiar words of the dying woman?" door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, nights." II. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." words came to my lips. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Then I am your man." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "I cannot as yet see any connection." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Then I shall certainly come." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. sparkled upon his finger. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed wife's character?" swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as II. cup of tea. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the your most interesting statement." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Yes." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered not within a twentieth part of the market price." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "And the cigar-holder?" that he has suffered." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the there!' occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst one's self under obligations.' These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "'Where to?' "Who was the criminal, then?" colour had been driven from his face. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of villagers almost as much as their master. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar thought that she would have been so carried away." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, noting anything else of interest. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that answer." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, everything which you would wish to know." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain voice. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day not within a twentieth part of the market price." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met prisoner's face. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of furiously. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is copied or distributed: go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can to have that photograph." What do you deduce from it?" happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Miss Holder?" that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right that I am arrested." "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into the night.' at a side door. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him.