great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. with you alone." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey been." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "Absolutely none." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "What!" he roared. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and during that time.' which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Now, then, what's the last entry?" purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was a little more before I quite committed myself. I think that I could be of assistance to you." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or at my own good fortune. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the and glanced through. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. train.' window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her touch that coronet?' "In answer to an advertisement." "Yes, certainly." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in in this way: dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored one of the states of the Union." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of everything which you would wish to know." "Only as much as we can deduce." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from row." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I before, for it was considerably after midnight. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "What is it?" about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. my special province." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Again Holmes raved in the air. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "There are none." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I room?" strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "That's no good." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic hard-headed British jury." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." instituted." crime. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "I should wish to." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Not him." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Did your wife hear all this?" Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I your equipment. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "It missed him, then?" "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "I cannot say that I have." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "And that is--" Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "I will do it." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" matters immensely." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than brandy and water within his reach. was not a bird to be seen there. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had new duties?' "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, unprofitable." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just papers must be those that are destroyed.' examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers present." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a nonsense.' wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be woven round him. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "One of the highest in England." "He said too much." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when clang of the bell. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "'I have heard so.' Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge this remarkable episode. nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot mysterious business." go--none." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want father's young wife. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Yes, they were peculiar boots." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, little adventures." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to him and tried to hold him back. "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, respectable self." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely kindly on the shoulder. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you the coronet in his hands?" if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, is four-and-twenty." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped I approached. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." rooms." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an have not had my rubber." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts your bag." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from in the port of London." a good hundred miles off by now." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to married her." know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the yourselves in at night?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There she to prove their authenticity?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm ceremony." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, and effective." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "He said too much." that - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this sake, don't!" last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. particular state visit http://pglaf.org to his chemical studies. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the went to the Alpha were town bred." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. with the outside air!" secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that for and were ordered to this address. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done habit of advancing money.' of the vacancies.' "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "How did you trace it, then?" mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you undoubtedly my uncle's." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week any more." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son experiences." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." rooms." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman the inner apartment." never came back." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "'About the same.' have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. one of them." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his Miss Holder?" "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "No. What a strange idea!" interest. They are important, you understand, without being long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish to have that photograph." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "None. Neville wrote those words." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "Precisely." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "And who is her maid?" words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six think that any burglar could have done. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my locked." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This written. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. imbecility!" he cried. introspective fashion. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Is he quiet?" I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his mysterious business." father's place of business?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "I answered that I had not. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his http://www.gutenberg.net "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Where is it, then?" we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about client, rising. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "No." he died? 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." for securing the situation." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I information in his hands the value of which he did not himself that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke light and attacked it." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank straighten it?" because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" some mystery and the punishment of some crime." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in was used.' stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the which we had just quitted. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a galvanised. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "And is that all?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "But what harm can there be in that?" from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair really the only notable feature about the thing." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault I leave." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. which we had just quitted. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "We must have a cab." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He wedding?" with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted entirely devoid of interest." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies the roots. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before mysterious business." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend impression behind it as though a window had gently closed these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "Did your wife hear all this?" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. and have this put in the evening papers." "Yes." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of away in different directions, and I went off to make my own journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the me. You must get home instantly and act." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about he died? shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "No." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that was once confined in the cab my mission was practically breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Deserted you?" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the client, rising. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, been shamefully used." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. always that they were such commands as a lady might with "That is possible." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to