glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to this remarkable episode. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "'Is 4 pounds a week.' that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "Has he come with you to-night?" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a said he at last. "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter guilty parties." always that they were such commands as a lady might with to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "I don't say that. Perhaps." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "I do." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "He is dead," cried several voices. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "Here?" Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the again before evening." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the asked. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well you understand?" London for the present?" you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "No." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "What, then?" "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only I held the little printed slip to the light. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard perplexity from it to my illustrious client. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a Clair, of Lee." come either from the window or the door. My attention was But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my been shamefully used." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began strange features which were associated with the two crimes which in his hands." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' it." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a for the market.' a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" girl said." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; into her hand at the door and which lured her within their the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a events, Mr. Windibank!" of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "The best possible." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for foot. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "It is very kind of you." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and one's self under obligations.' The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical chance." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. upon the shelf for the interim." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an all?" waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to someone who had been in Australia." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "'I am sure that I do not know.' down. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. think that any burglar could have done. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' several quiet little villages up there." me have 200 pounds?' Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to awaited us upon the table. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My to-night's adventure." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "I should like to see him very much." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I question you as to those details which seem to me to be most His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "One horse?" interjected Holmes. said Mr. Holder. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." there is a decided draught." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the bears upon the case?" "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock arms and began to sob in a high treble key. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Nothing." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which I have it here in my museum." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no thirty. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in hard-headed British jury." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know companion. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "'What are you doing there?' he asked. his face which made him a very different person to the round, "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a to-night's adventure." "Look there!" said he. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to fishes. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "No." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us to tackle the facts." "So it appears." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "If so, much may have happened between." "Has he come with you to-night?" and the whole place is in a blaze." all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences Again Holmes raved in the air. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see that, and I came down." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "No, but the enclosure is." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I upon a handsome competence. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon details." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must business in the City. She little knew what. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with tell them apart.' investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "And Miss Sutherland?" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "One of his hands." place no limit on the sum I may draw." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the from you?" Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "That you are never beaten." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I such person." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door to arrive at through this?" or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "What will you do, then?" "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." his wife has ceased to love him." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Do you know him?" low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could tightly behind him. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my considering the formidable letters which were received by himself steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Imitated." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns the one as in the other." coat-tails." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "You forget that I know nothing about it." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Yes, only one." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story so.' "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and humiliation." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this there." into the bag, and made for the door. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "You think that he is dead?" heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the to arrive at through this?" mysterious end." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of think that any burglar could have done. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster despair." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, breakfast." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "My stepfather's business papers." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the the tragedy. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "You have but to name it." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Was your sister dressed?" values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "An enemy?" "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I eavesdroppers?' "I warn you that they are very incomplete." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray The telegram which we eventually received came late one night business." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "One of the highest in England." "And why in hopes?" "In which, sir?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried have established a very serious case against the son of the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the the inner apartment." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is would then never go into court at all." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, any little problem which you may submit to me." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which signal between you and your father? husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and see me here to avoid scandal." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not things are very often connected not with the larger but with the Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been over his head with a sweet womanly caress. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in My friend smiled. ran thus: sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are for and were ordered to this address. "I would pay ten." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny society." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" of a light. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, made his money." presented more singular features than that which was associated 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my answer." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, lost his Christmas dinner." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "Precisely." "Why, it's a dummy," said he. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. as noiselessly as she had come. "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to room had already been engaged for us. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost brain must have something in it." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of electronic works "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though outsides of the windows. "To ruin me." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. it with his own hands." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not may never be exposed to such a temptation." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "To ruin me." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the 1.F. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect to his chemical studies. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I do." the morning and make my own way in the world.' Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. But Holmes shook his head gravely. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room.