mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in should be taken.' "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. who was a member of your goose club." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking both be extremely obliged.' ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "We must have a cab." helping a boy to put up the shutters. connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "'Is 4 pounds a week.' which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she room had already been engaged for us. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune leave you to your papers for a little." my former friend and companion. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Did your wife hear all this?" Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "And what did you learn from him?" "Precisely." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "'Tell me all about it,' said I. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to the date of his supposed suicide." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I have got?" "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I one of the states of the Union." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a quickly through a disagreeable task. "'Why that?' I asks. or other trace. But how on earth--" "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "He disappeared so suddenly." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "I should be immensely obliged to you." Street. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "It is no ordinary one." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in even so self-evident a thing as that." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I newspaper selections." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "You are hungry," I remarked. This is what he says: perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "What then?" A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "How do you know, then?" that you can jump it.' gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Very murderous indeed." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she it." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind tied." "What then?" "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. salesman. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" chance." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "Here?" little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Did you become engaged then?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "The Coroner: What do you mean? "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the very letters. But what is this written above them?' from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "And why?" quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an floor. neither fascinating nor artistic." again." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you you want, then?' London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "You have carte blanche." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I think that it is very probable." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Look there!" said he. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood lips." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't better in every way that they should make their position a little fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he written. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "No. His orders were to stay in the house." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, your co-operation." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "'Then let me do so?' "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided occurred." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he particular state visit http://pglaf.org sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "And you thought he was pulled back?" All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Arthur Conan Doyle makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and some place of shelter and let the county police know what has to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "I do." returned to France?" life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "Then the page we have seen--" Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City in a friendly supper." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "I never have." something of him before." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found posted to-day." forebodings. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. became a certainty. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he off." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I felt the room to be a little close.' Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime must be when I saw the door open.' Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't rose-bushes. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there the devil!" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off people don't know." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "No. What a strange idea!" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." and a shock of very red hair. them?" companion imperturbably. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Yes, from Horsham." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the miles off. call you and give you the chance." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. served to weaken the effect. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "You will not go there first?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at wall." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it results." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I populous neighbourhood." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So like gravel from a pit.' was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for manager. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "And for present expenses?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room occupations.' "What, then?" tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said said he at last. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "It is half-past ten now." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out use an arc-and-compass breastpin." that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when guilty one." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "'Why that?' I asks. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' Pool. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Thank you. Pray proceed." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the mysterious business." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "And how did you verify them?" his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, fashion which was peculiar to him. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and make me his representative both with the servants and with the is," said he presently: is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "No, I think that I'll take it." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out which our visitor detailed to us. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did washing it down with a long draught of water. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, and that he would see to anything that turned up. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "'Is purely nominal.' "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Surrey." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change plantation.' only touch the interest." Leadenhall Street--and--" I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "What!" he roared. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "No. What a strange idea!" strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was entirely lost his self-respect." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of himself. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing 1.F. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "Proceed, then." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." then?" the coronet at all injured?" "How are you getting on?" away to you." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Yes." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "I cannot think." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "You horrify me." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "Yes." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, direction." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there to-night?' employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "Has he come with you to-night?" steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. done what I asked you, Jones?" "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "But what will you do?" pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was upon the sideboard." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down could go. made him keep the appointment." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' gives a meaning to it." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of annoyance, but no jest. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Won't it ring?" here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "Perfectly so."