opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story But Holmes shook his head gravely. Project Gutenberg-tm works. "You were travelling in the States?" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. she to prove their authenticity?" in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The enough to aid us in our search." no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he business." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this the warnings." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "One of the highest in England." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off these bleak autumnal evenings." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "What can it mean?" I gasped. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, said Mr. Holder. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "You did not overhear what they said?" a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, better in every way that they should make their position a little you came in." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "What then?" her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, crowd. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in once more. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you know that the truth is known." "Very much so." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the unprofitable." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both Where does the thing come from?' sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "Not I." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." away to you." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing not interfere, come what may. You understand?" man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every note?" "He is dead," cried several voices. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." morning." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can occurred." "And how did you find out?" "Quite so. She has her freedom." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Your French gold?" but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which hair?' I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest cigars in their mouths. the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" straightened it out again. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "'I have already given you my word.' these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE woven round him. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" this Miss Turner." problems help me to do so." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I asked with his eyes open. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you searched, without anything being found which could incriminate relief. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My Holmes' face clouded over. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "No." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "I say that I have solved it." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold he died? tassel actually lying upon the pillow. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "I would give my fortune to have them back." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that Farm upon the left." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "But she will refuse." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, I. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Who by?" "Nothing." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "And what did you see?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as place no limit on the sum I may draw." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally strong and stiff." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is on in his house." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "Your French gold?" "We were both in the photograph." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "And did you observe any change in her then?" shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I foresight and the moral retrogression?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It highroad, where all traces were lost. squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Then I am your man." "That is unusual in a young girl." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before conduct the inquiry." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, cigars in the box." make me his representative both with the servants and with the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that details should find their way into the papers. Inspector the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been one of them." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." you do it in twenty minutes!' have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see that I am arrested." "No, finished." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or you want, then?' stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in in a very precise fashion." sufficient punishment." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look instincts rose up against that laugh. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a south, for the country is more deserted there." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to would then never go into court at all." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "But how?" drove away. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "What is it, then--a fire?" "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the Holmes' thin, eager face. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before hour?' It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "No, finished." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which miles off. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "'And the work?' docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the think you a quite exceptional woman." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Yes." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "What!" he roared. case before our client came into the room." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed success. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "I beg pardon." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens over part of the map. "What do you read?" not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated you." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and Street. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we 'I should be able to look after that for you.' no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "An enemy?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On fat-encircled eyes. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence outside. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "Precisely." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' have established a very serious case against the son of the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." that he has suffered." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one papers." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly most interesting one." your co-operation." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for Sholtos." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said entirely lost his self-respect." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "What, then, did Peterson do?" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "No, I had a dozen." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "No." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down against a man in the prime of life?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the general public were present, then?" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." amused." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can was once confined in the cab my mission was practically respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing official police." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very meant it for the best. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own danger is over." bird of prey. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, him nearly every evening." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of true." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest Holmes' room. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, something of him before." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "Certainly." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had chair. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it think you a quite exceptional woman." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "Then I shall certainly come." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "To an English lawyer named Norton." over part of the map. "What do you read?" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "The Cedars?" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Then I shall certainly come." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." during that time.' suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "The doctor?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" in one or two places in England?' "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly leaning back in his chair. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for too. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave IS "I think it very unlikely." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of most important business. It is probable that he will be away all and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When happened." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "I cannot as yet see any connection." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between