among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had on re-entering her father's house?" "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire clang of the bell. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its so far?" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, business." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is will he say when he returns?" adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless will take you up to see the machine.' another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of fishes. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's you." out of this horrible affair." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "'Is purely nominal.' "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, families. Now for the facts. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" writers could invent nothing more crude." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "No sign of it?" heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "And you can do nothing until then?" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began appeared upon the scene." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man Street. Dr. Gregory B. Newby difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "Where to?" intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very just ask you whether you had heard it.' "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been habit of advancing money.' as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted 1.E.9. "'Then let me do so?' there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Yes. He waved his hands." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his had this final quarrel? sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "At what time?" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Why, what do you mean?" eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you national property. I was determined that the law should have its out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed against a man in the prime of life?" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" papers diligently of late, have you not?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a mystery!" that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "And how have you succeeded?" "You have carte blanche." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated were new raised from a basin. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "What do you mean?" would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted their singular warning or token before them when starting upon look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "It was." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "And how did you verify them?" objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I could not account in any way for the presence of the missing than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction stalked out of the room. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "By no means." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "'Not at all. I only doubt--' however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "I would give my fortune to have them back." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." do you make of it all?" just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than his face which made him a very different person to the round, wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was mystery!" "The murder was done with it." ventilator." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "You have it, sir, just as it happened." of." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Witness: I must still refuse. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently records." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have four million human beings all jostling each other within the year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to husband's writing, madam." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no sparkled upon his finger. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my in the port of London." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me criminal. We have already had experience of such." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper which we had just quitted. "Murdered?" "And on what day did he meet his death?" showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "And what did you see?" though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a husband's writing, madam." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "But you can know nothing of this?" what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the chance at all." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed with her." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of anything to do with the matter?" present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Witness: I must still refuse. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR constraint." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "And I say east," said my patient. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Won't it ring?" painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which companion. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "'I shall certainly be there.' see me here to avoid scandal." not come at once?" steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would whole matter to your consideration." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the James Windibank. Voilà tout!" strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in answer." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "My own seal." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "To an English lawyer named Norton." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "What do you make of that, Watson?" bed dies. Does not that strike you?" to you." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for row." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "'About the same.' correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me tell me that you intended to go into harness." "I am to be neutral?" lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? crowd. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' hardly wander." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Precisely." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "On the contrary, this is the right side." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He unclasping of his long thin hands. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too in him." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the your most interesting statement." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and young Openshaw's." "She told me to ask you." strong reason behind." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have troubles have been weighing upon his mind. Farm upon the left." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to to-morrow." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "But how?" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Then he might have called to you?" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass recover the gem." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly did not hear it also.' breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress leave you to your papers for a little." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Yes." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Did he not advertise?" side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "9th. McCauley cleared. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see even so self-evident a thing as that." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I have my revolver," said I. is four-and-twenty." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil gbnewby@pglaf.org horse could go." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Yes, all." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Only as much as we can deduce." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of she to prove their authenticity?" "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step happened." colonel looking down at me. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your purpose of examination. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang to arrive at through this?" Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On ways including including checks, online payments and credit card bill, which interests me deeply." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of likely to be some crony of the landlady's." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "We must sit without light. He would see it through the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with chair. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." written, and locked the door of the office after me. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would I shall continue with my miserable story. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered through." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Texas, I think." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that to-night?' other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, to-night?" I asked. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. this Miss Turner." "Who by?" seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Certainly." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so them present such singular features as the strange train of "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our electronic works "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been once more for Briony Lodge. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Never to return." in this note: was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but away in different directions, and I went off to make my own research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were away in different directions, and I went off to make my own wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had one's self under obligations.' whether it answered to the description of any of their dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was side. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from who was a member of your goose club." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. row." was keenly on my guard against him. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. said he. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." hard-headed British jury." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking