There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "Is he quiet?" "Who was the criminal, then?" "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "But to whom?" of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "That is not always so easy." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a closely." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock existence." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "But the mystery?" "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw a room. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "But I am all in the dark." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers keep the flames under. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right his huge brown hands. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "So I am. Very much so." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. questioning and rather startled gaze. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his intrusion of other matters." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised there is a decided draught." "Indeed! Whose, then?" slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you neither fascinating nor artistic." that I may have something better before very many minutes are other, as fresh and trim as possible. that he has suffered." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, is now desirous of getting those letters back." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "What, then?" held up the lantern and gazed about him. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Your sister is dead, then?" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make begin with, and I had not got mine yet." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past and capable of preserving a secret.' never to learn it at all." in darkness. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I own family. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if brain must have something in it." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "No, thank goodness, she did not." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Ten will be early enough." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "That is not always so easy." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party events than those which have happened in my own family." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "What have you to say now?" "'It is locked up,' I answered. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they charged with?" me. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess in darkness. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it cigars in their mouths. me have 200 pounds?' Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "But he might be a bachelor." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and likely to be some crony of the landlady's." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "Well." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "'What do you call purely nominal?' the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and you understand?" destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium Again Holmes raved in the air. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "'Which dealer's?' reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife believe that I should never have any practice at all. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: three of the beryls in it, was missing. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Was the window open?" unprecedented a position." over part of the map. "What do you read?" singular points about the case. What did the police think of the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "None. Neville wrote those words." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been this unhappy family?" graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the that, and I came down." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, with her." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "Have you it here?" "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding corner of the building. strong and stiff." and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." gives a meaning to it." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "That also I could fathom." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "No." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that to take care of herself." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is mystery may be cleared along those lines." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone look upon these things in a different way." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very events, Mr. Windibank!" even so self-evident a thing as that." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every to have been novel and of interest." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are something of him before." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible business matters.' routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back hair?' cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the shall use the carriage to-night." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He the morning and make my own way in the world.' "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "It is his hat." dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Here?" accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge suspect him." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by and have this put in the evening papers." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy coat-tails." again, where I was soon asleep. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters prison!" "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "He disappeared so suddenly." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind girl said." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his are, and they are waiting for us." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Yes?" "Were they all fastened this morning?" "How do you know, then?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the lamp. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed ashen face. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to ago." "What do you make of that, Watson?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about the tragedy. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." late." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "It must be recovered." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "I don't believe it." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep been." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be out." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and and that he would see to anything that turned up. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Yes, the wine-cellar." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "In San Francisco, a year ago." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in quite distinctive." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was down in his armchair and closing his eyes. to tackle the facts." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness pressing in one house as in another. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "What of the rat, then?" What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." McCarthy." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was think that he is innocent?" With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the October 9, 1890. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Married! When?" "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "'I shall certainly be there.' "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we compunction about shooting them down." "Yes." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building laugh and put his lips to my ear. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of if I call to-morrow?" bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, depend upon my doing so.' I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was own family. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to forebodings. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "'Very good.' "None." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, because she had spent so short a time in this country that she the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was with you?" really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with other means.' dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress know all about it," he snarled. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "You did not overhear what they said?" broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. details." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "'And the work?' once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. habit of advancing money.' "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, http://gutenberg.net/license). the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that night.' said he. all?" crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "'A dozen yards or so.' "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is as he remarks, very much against the son." "Has he come with you to-night?" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the pound a week." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "Yes, only one." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither have accepted such a situation. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. mystery may be cleared along those lines." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "This concluded the examination of the witness." "Stoke Moran?" said he. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been asked. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly I leave." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a conceal it?" then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." best detective that ever lived. which our visitor detailed to us. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is already referred to. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke morning." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily