But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, the armchair which I pushed forward for him. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in me, and I could not think that his explanation of the Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he introspective fashion. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to absolutely follow my advice in every respect." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been shadow pass over his face as I spoke. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of like gravel from a pit.' morning." a little more before I quite committed myself. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "I am in hopes that she does." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in simple cases which are so extremely difficult." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the a little more before I quite committed myself. daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San your own bird, so if you wish--" "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help green of the new foliage. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, breakfast?" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, bachelor.' my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where and that he would see to anything that turned up. very old mansion. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these was a lad." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the highly," said Holmes. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "No, finished." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a once more for Briony Lodge. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "In the cells." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." page at http://pglaf.org We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." written. nonsense.' possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his me where it went to?" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "Yes, but only for you and me." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Very truly yours, whole matter to your consideration." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails." whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main carried out of court." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that you for a few hours?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "And what did you see?" business." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa me. You must get home instantly and act." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "'It is locked up,' I answered. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, companion imperturbably. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself system of imprisonment?" License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some letters?" "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "It is possible." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "'Ample.' the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the I leave." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No reach." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would seven miles from Eyford Station.' the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "What will you say?" "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the charged with?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst asked. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking suddenly upon us." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of as noiselessly as she had come. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "I would pay ten." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes himself to tell his story. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of Sutherland. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Well, it is a possible supposition." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my not fit the lock." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you or other trace. But how on earth--" matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." away into the river." affair. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "What do you make of that, Watson?" sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the dead, shall be safe with us." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Yes, but only for you and me." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "What shall I do?" the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were and files of the old papers, following the future career of every that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Ha! you find it so?" upon an income of about 60 pounds." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "What have you done?" asked Holmes. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet point in the dark hollow of his hand. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was of your young ladies.' threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after gone before you can get him to hospital." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat to-morrow." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his that time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the room had already been engaged for us. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight asked. companion. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you felt the room to be a little close.' public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining that I am arrested." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Certainly." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "He is still with you, I presume?" about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Why serious?" was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab case before our client came into the room." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties Sutherland. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "You forget that I know nothing about it." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had I was concerned in it." a monotonous occupation." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and that?' "That is not always so easy." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, not personally threatened." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in my former friend and companion. late." maiden herself was most instructive." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not never to learn it at all." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of with you?" manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "And what then?" "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "That is possible." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "I came to find a friend." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we fat-encircled eyes. pound a week." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who not as remarkable as your advertisement." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did have I gained?" to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my pressing in one house as in another. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the there was no need for father to know." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally showing my impatience. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "'And the work?' "I see many objections to any such theory." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to a monotonous occupation." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the do.' given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "Whose house is it?" There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "And you can do nothing until then?" Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "May I see it?" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his think that he is innocent?" someone who had been in Australia." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I neither fascinating nor artistic." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "'Never,' said I. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "And now?" I asked. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the the coronet at all injured?" maiden herself was most instructive." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped sooner or later she must fall a victim. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a together. should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Of what day?" his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was morning." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one becomes even more simple." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "What then?" The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Yes." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored than to us. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's carried out of court." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some could not account in any way for the presence of the missing A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Awake, Watson?" he asked. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all conversation I have gathered that they have been married about perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the