"Indeed! Whose, then?" with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall not as remarkable as your advertisement." as he folded up the epistle. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by manager. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too so.' "Not yet." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these lamp. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even examination of the premises, but without finding anything which in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that bled considerably." tapping his fingers upon the table. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Precisely." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. is," said he presently: ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "Was she in good spirits?" across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. drove away. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "I think that I had better go, Holmes." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look outside. conduct the inquiry." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us begin with, and I had not got mine yet." matter over." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing said he. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether of a light. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he galvanised. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "It is possible." "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But your Highness to the police-station?" how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his walking." death." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not persecution?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to second window is the one that I jumped from." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been one of them." to-night's adventure." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, these bleak autumnal evenings." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a once more. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. as he folded up the epistle. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined have established a very serious case against the son of the heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. details should find their way into the papers. Inspector interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Dark enough and sinister enough." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Has he come with you to-night?" understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through papers diligently of late, have you not?" get her out of the way." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution straightened it out again. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish into her hand at the door and which lured her within their in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time before, for it was considerably after midnight. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his the King without delay." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "Certainly." of your young ladies.' "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "I know where it is." the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered heavy and sharp instrument." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many and a shock of very red hair. "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly only touch the interest." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my upon the shelf for the interim." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'Yes.' conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there next day. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Deserted you?" remarked. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, ago." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "No, my brougham is waiting." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "Ample." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, the side-table." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "And Irene Adler?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush breakfast?" and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "And when will you call?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" main points of my analysis." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, that, and I came down." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "In what way?" asked Holmes. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I Lee, in the county of Kent." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom approach us with offers to donate. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and at my remark. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Will you bet, then?" river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Look there!" said he. stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my daring than any effort of the imagination." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "His face fell immediately. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "I will, Miss Turner." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf should be so warm over such a trifle." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "It is no ordinary one." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very confronted him. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the standing smiling on the door-step. jewels which you have stolen?' and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over hand, madam?" such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the his knees, staring into the fire. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of jewels which you have stolen?' takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was there were so many in the whole country as were brought together explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "I cannot imagine." seem to you to be relevant or not." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the mysterious end." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the into the bag, and made for the door. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good success. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a begin with, and I had not got mine yet." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the Edgeware Road. opportunities to fix the problem. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the Munro.' a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice foot. "You have compromised yourself seriously." his wife has ceased to love him." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. the house with me." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and question," said Holmes, smiling. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to chance." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, new duties?' "You did not overhear what they said?" revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a one which it was hard to resist. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him your equipment. nothing of it?" here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with would apply.' "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully use an arc-and-compass breastpin." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he the stones. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" right! Sit down and let us talk it over." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to approach us with offers to donate. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood stepfather?" when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "'There is a drive, then?' The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. face and glided from the room. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, it." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Then you may entirely rely on me." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Very well, sir. And this stone?" its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very will take you up to see the machine.' she might be summoned. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever Watson," he said cordially. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "None." "BALLARAT." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "But not more so than I to find you." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "'Is 4 pounds a week.' The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were likely to be some crony of the landlady's." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as the side-table." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice carriage. It was a chestnut." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "No, distinctly professional." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" daring than any effort of the imagination." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "I have a cab outside." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "You know me, then?" something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend nothing of it?" you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "That is it on the dressing-table." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. is," said he presently: pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Well, it is a possible supposition." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be to a more successful conclusion." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "And who is her maid?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing so.' "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the you do it in twenty minutes!' "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I be sorry for having acted so harshly." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet was not a bird to be seen there. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in of this gang." "We have tried and failed." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop straighten it?" "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who affair. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front be. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy been shamefully used." of Fenchurch Street." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "It looks newer than the other things?" "And your father? Did you tell him?" Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "9th. McCauley cleared. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of