volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "He said that you could solve anything." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. such person." you." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate because she had spent so short a time in this country that she scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever wedding?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and forebodings. could not have written that. It is the German who is so "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous head. So long, then!" young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, British peeress.'" "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' and the church but not where the lady lived." interests were the same as his." "It is true that I have been generally successful." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' fear." that I can to serve you." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to absorbing." "It looks newer than the other things?" "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, strong reason behind." British peeress.'" relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has lost his Christmas dinner." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he mystery!" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the and looked back. But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you McCarthy's innocence. weighed down with some great anxiety. the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to and capable of preserving a secret.' your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have here and I will read it to you: burst out into a roar of laughter. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a and files of the old papers, following the future career of every Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "He is still with you, I presume?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "I shall be delighted." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? must compliment you." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Precisely." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Then I do not see the point." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "What office?" instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was to where he stood hid behind the curtain. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my security.' "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would enter Dr. Roylott's room." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. unprofitable." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "VIOLET HUNTER." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "Certainly." Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid His name is Francis Prosper." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Bought." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "I am still in the dark." already referred to. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "And your father? Did you tell him?" have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the stones. "My dear Holmes!" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Nothing?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down in my life." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a a little more before I quite committed myself. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. crime. said he. "And why?" "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, cigar and let me expound." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Were they all fastened this morning?" one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his cigar and let me expound." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I bird of prey. her also." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to me what he had done with the three missing stones. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed tied." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which said I. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My depend upon your compliance." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me newspaper selections." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." for and were ordered to this address. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "Witness: It was. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "A greater distance to travel." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "About a month then." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Where, indeed?" concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Did he not advertise?" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "On your arm?" cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the suspect him." said he at last. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from Holmes' room. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of chair. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two remarked. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "I warn you that they are very incomplete." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling she has been waylaid. There has been no result." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Breckinridge is his name." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it this truth that in these little records of our cases which you of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good are, I think, all that we need." his eyes and forehead. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "At half-wages, in fact." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "I beg pardon." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the case before our client came into the room." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "I saw her in conversation with her maid." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a system of imprisonment?" "I am armed." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, formed some opinion?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "I do." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be been with you?" work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "My stepfather's business papers." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for was keenly on my guard against him. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' over with notes and figures. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah fait accompli?" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "I will do it." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "My dear Holmes!" electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers official police." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under coat-tails." "You horrify me!" "Yes." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the direction." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey noting anything else of interest. "Oh, fresh and glossy." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was shag which I had seen upon the previous night. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I round with crates and massive boxes. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Then I can wait in the next room." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to spare." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "I will try. What is it?" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Precisely so. But how--" half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Was she in good spirits?" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and are windows in it, of course?" habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "'Is 4 pounds a week.' eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended and all of them with the keenest interest. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "I think that I had better go, Holmes." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well the ceiling. "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm http://www.gutenberg.net clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what observed. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right never will be, entirely cleared up. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the all-comprehensive glances. friends, not even his own brother. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "The best possible." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for and no precautions can guard against." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the despaired of." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have like that before?" younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Thank you. Pray proceed." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even populous neighbourhood." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "It is half-past ten now." has little to do with my story." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything best detective that ever lived. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of you?' "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "You horrify me." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "But he might be a bachelor." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all chambers. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and entirely devoid of interest." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "And why?" last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "ARAT," I read. than to us.