branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it long narrative. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated returning from some small jollification and was making his way Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "One of his hands." lost his Christmas dinner." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "But I am all in the dark." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask States. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, are, I think, all that we need." "What then?" the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a is now desirous of getting those letters back." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I you do it in twenty minutes!' "But how did you gain them?" "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Why did you beat the pavement?" tear off another piece?' could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his dear old homesteads?" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "And Miss Sutherland?" gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "But I am all in the dark." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I hard-headed British jury." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots as he remarks, very much against the son." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away or other trace. But how on earth--" upon a handsome competence. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about allusion to a rat. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true McCarthy." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "The decline of his fortunes, then?" extraordinary contortions. Literary Archive Foundation window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in shaken than I had ever seen him. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "'Then let me do so?' characteristics, but those are the more obvious." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. a very grave face. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something be. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept copied or distributed: ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life thought that she would have been so carried away." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but Holmes rather sternly. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a galvanised. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" speckled band?" first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a were wasted." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." there in twenty minutes." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in plantation.' I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, the dangers which encompass me." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take done what I asked you, Jones?" completely overtopped every other consideration that we both which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two I am not easy in my mind about them." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the the devil!" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of forbidden door. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and From what you have told me I think that it is possible that cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Yes." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "What steps will you take?" I asked. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When gigantic client. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either daring than any effort of the imagination." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive one of the states of the Union." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "It may not come to that," said Holmes. at a side door. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "I should be immensely obliged to you." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out lips." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Yes, that is the Crown." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon may never be exposed to such a temptation." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I really the only notable feature about the thing." "Then you may be so with me." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." the roots. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little client, rising. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. strength of mind to control. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. your billet.' business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend bearing upon the case." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of and have this put in the evening papers." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had strength in the others." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to his face which made him a very different person to the round, I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. be. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we even so self-evident a thing as that." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it your only hope of safety." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs is," said he presently: bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding dear old homesteads?" "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a there was no need for father to know." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "I say that I have solved it." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "I cannot imagine." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout Munro.' without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "I would pay ten." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast rat could hardly pass through." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering humiliation." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Yes, at the mines." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, instincts rose up against that laugh. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "I should be immensely obliged to you." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or roused himself from his reverie. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Holmes' face clouded over. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and likely to be some crony of the landlady's." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim himself in a perplexing position. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray unclasping of his long thin hands. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror it were putty." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Then, as to money?" twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." strength." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged respectable self." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Yes?" room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called to tackle the facts." not fit the lock." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "And Irene Adler?" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "What do you make of that, Watson?" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Then he might have called to you?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with where Mr. Fordham shows you.' surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no companion quietly. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "No." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the better in every way that they should make their position a little your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it purpose of examination. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "Then how many are there?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that indeed which he could not unravel. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. orange pips. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" a very grave face. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a The note was undated, and without either signature or address. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord results." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." your billet.' "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and and glanced through. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "It may not come to that," said Holmes. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the enter into my head. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, up this clue while it is still hot." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into felt?" it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and she used." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. hand, madam?" including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "You were travelling in the States?" Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Dr. Becher's." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as hereditary King of Bohemia." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the salesman. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several yards of it?' "I am about to be married." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of do.' fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "May I see it?" remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "And what did you see?" not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible the coronet in his hand?" front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would charged with?" considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "What office?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "No, thank goodness, she did not." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Dirty?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now and your relations to her." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing rat could hardly pass through." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is until night should bring an explanation. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter colour had been driven from his face. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as for the market.' examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the his cane at the bell-pull. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Which are?" police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was which we had just quitted. "My stepfather's business papers." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Pray do so." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was constraint." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of who was a member of your goose club." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "I have solved it." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS