our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "You horrify me!" absolutely follow my advice in every respect." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some go back?" "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we should be taken.' "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced vague figure huddled up in the darkness. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and few hundred pounds.' could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But were wasted." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate stood on the top of it. that you wished to speak to me?' initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "I cannot imagine." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself him to be an active member of the medical profession." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love bird of prey. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "It is very clear." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it meanly of me." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. never to learn it at all." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly promised to bring home. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened Mrs. Toller serenely. air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' better grown goose." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, You want to know what became of those geese?" wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "The knees of his trousers." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "I should be immensely obliged to you." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid ago." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough and effective." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event burst out into a roar of laughter. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man hurried away. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to awaited us upon the table. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small not personally threatened." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & straighten it?" the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her all?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried to that open window." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "I am to be neutral?" lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' the coronet at all injured?" "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, stepfather?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Precisely." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "On the contrary, this is the right side." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for fasten all the windows?" quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an could gather together that I was able to avert another public you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock the tragedy. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where DAMAGE. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the now. It seems that there had been some informality about their their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as any." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." see me here to avoid scandal." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in most important business. It is probable that he will be away all fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt populous neighbourhood." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." touch that coronet?' There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Do you receive much company?" he asked. with you?" to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "Well, some hundreds of times." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we shoulder; "he's all right." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." second window is the one that I jumped from." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely on in his house." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your are windows in it, of course?" upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "'I have already given you my word.' manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's unprecedented a position." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the the salesman. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and Holmes' thin, eager face. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time From what you have told me I think that it is possible that I shall continue with my miserable story. helping a boy to put up the shutters. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "But how?" man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of The events in question occurred in the early days of my permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting Holmes' room. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "'Stolen!' he cried. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? quite distinctive." there!' roused himself from his reverie. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I indeed happy." were unconscious?" companion. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "I do." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen child?' works. See paragraph 1.E below. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out held up the lantern and gazed about him. "I will, Miss Turner." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. quite distinctive." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his the matter?" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "It is very kind of you." "'Stolen!' he cried. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Frequently." "How can you tell that?" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at lumber-room." to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Perhaps I have." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said child?' "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Oh, fresh and glossy." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father humiliation." "Where, then?" young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "How did you deduce the select?" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Witness: I must still refuse. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, presented more singular features than that which was associated and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "Absolutely none." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my for the market.' the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country the night.' what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Yes, at the mines." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "What steps will you take?" I asked. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Of what day?" "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left have established a very serious case against the son of the "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Absolutely none." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can into the bag, and made for the door. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a absolutely follow my advice in every respect." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with hands. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the both be extremely obliged.' "Ten will be early enough." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "How did you deduce the select?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best guilty parties." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have experiences." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her you in yours." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "To an end?" creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "He is dead," cried several voices. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when business matters.' not as remarkable as your advertisement." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the investigation." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "A confidential servant?" "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking he bowed and left the room without another word. as he folded up the epistle. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "There is the writing." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "I am following you closely," I answered. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "Nothing." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in him and tried to hold him back. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "'As governess?' sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like definite end. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, the Assizes." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "You know me, then?" however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates been." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." was used.' "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the carriage. It was a chestnut." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, which should have the effect of calling the attention of the during which he might have communicated with his friend the and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," seem to you to be relevant or not." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather and all of them with the keenest interest. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS straightened it out again. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "Because he was handy and would come cheap." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, desk. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but sparkled upon his finger. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." and looked back. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Yes, but only for you and me." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the prisoner's face. than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "But how?" has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far bell. Holmes whistled. in a friendly supper." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "A confidential servant?" was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. sparkled upon his finger. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? him. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm amused." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. works. See paragraph 1.E below. feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one