most interesting one." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works off." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look lips." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "So I have heard." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" success. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I intrusion of other matters." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. congenial hunt. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the your own bird, so if you wish--" cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the seem to you to be relevant or not." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Well, it is a possible supposition." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "But your client--" followed. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "I beg pardon." foot. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. fact, we may call it conclusive." "'Certainly not. But why?' home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility case before our client came into the room." indiscretion." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "That sounds a little paradoxical." daring than any effort of the imagination." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "And Miss Sutherland?" Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three respectable self." few hundred pounds.' there was no need for father to know." "The Coroner: What do you mean? glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "No?" particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "No." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Can I be of assistance?" shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Do you know him?" in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we Munro.' At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to without success. At last the little money which I had saved began commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window he. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a question," said Holmes, smiling. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was him to go away.' can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, strength of mind to control. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Then, how do you know?" "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Yes, from Horsham." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "I have hopes." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to of campaign. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "You have compromised yourself seriously." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "The King of Scandinavia." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "In what way?" asked Holmes. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" furiously. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "To ruin me." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the one of them." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our recall any case within my experience which looked at the first among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried garden below. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. entirely devoid of interest." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Witness: I must still refuse. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "'And what salary do you ask?' before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "Where to?" should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the Project Gutenberg-tm works. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." enter into my head. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, London for the present?" national property. I was determined that the law should have its of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. out of this horrible affair." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until politicians who had been sent down from the North. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "And what did you learn from him?" push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my to a more successful conclusion." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "No, I think that I'll take it." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, I think that I could be of assistance to you." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "But it has twice been burgled." asked with his eyes open. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There hard-headed British jury." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "To the police?" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate them?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a there." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "I say it is." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to the inquest, and which are worth considering." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found eat it." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a been able to understand it, in a very few words. back to my heart. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Not in the least." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit 1.E.9. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of take the flies, but not before." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "I have come for advice." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my his eyes and forehead. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "Here?" husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend detective. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Really! You surprise me." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "You think so, too?" I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. bird I ate is country bred." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than ourselves in the office." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, you." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a served to weaken the effect. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Why did you beat the pavement?" his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of girl said." "Have you her photograph?" against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better article?" can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case conclusions. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had respectable self." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "No, my brougham is waiting." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is could gather together that I was able to avert another public livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "I was certainly surprised to find you there." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found with you?" "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, visitors." indeed happy." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. derbies." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "'Yes.' impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, tapping his fingers upon the table. dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "None. Neville wrote those words." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "How do you know, then?" just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "Proceed, then." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to works. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "In what way?" asked Holmes. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "And when will you call?" bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted address. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of miles off. my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and suggested at once that there must be a communication between the coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I shag which I had seen upon the previous night. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "Precisely so. But how--" "No bad?" really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon weigh very heavily upon my conscience." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Do you go out much in society?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Yesterday." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "'Is 4 pounds a week.' correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third signal between you and your father? "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you likely to be some crony of the landlady's." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up promised to bring home. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK had this final quarrel? I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his seen the man in the road." "Witness: I must still refuse. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly my former friend and companion. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner begin with, and I had not got mine yet." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective the address that was given us in the advertisement. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE obstinate." not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "His face fell immediately. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Then I am your man." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their in the port of London." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Your sister is dead, then?" "Then what has happened to him?" I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "Yes." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. pound a week." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had other, as fresh and trim as possible. there." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon British peeress.'" "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS what is your own theory as to what took place?" better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been gone before you can get him to hospital." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers were unconscious?" "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that second." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing round with crates and massive boxes. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.