glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do again on its way. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few he died? Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "You know me, then?" I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' the King without delay." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "How are you getting on?" "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Won't it ring?" low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the amused." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, at home. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know character. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Not in the least." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Certainly." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about him, that man would not have given me such complete information and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "In the cells." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my drawing your inferences." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "I am still in the dark." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last to change my dress. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "What will you do, then?" "Holmes, the busybody!" to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion thirty. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "Look there!" said he. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." mysterious end." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, him, that man would not have given me such complete information grasp, he hurried from the room. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "She walked into the breakfast-room." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "I fear not." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "And what did you learn from him?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "He is still with you, I presume?" his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very your billet.' introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very companion. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a and put his glass in his pocket. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk to go into your room and bar your shutters?" entirely devoid of interest." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because about. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "I assure you that I am in your hands." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this remarked. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. both be extremely obliged.' scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "No." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "'I am sure that I do not know.' expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a chemical work which was so dear to him. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. our word." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an and shall probably return to London by the evening train." could not have written that. It is the German who is so "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "She will not sell." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong along the entire front of the house, with three long windows sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying his cane at the bell-pull. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Certainly." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. plantation.' of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "This photograph!" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Entirely." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Well, it is a possible supposition." not come at once?" grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "The King of Scandinavia." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote into her hand at the door and which lured her within their effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. you." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then breakfast?" prepare for the new role I have to play." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a he died? "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "'Never,' said I. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "How can you tell that?" reach." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and invisible to me," I remarked. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "What is it?" trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "No?" death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point minor matters until to-morrow." begun to whiten, even as mine has." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the drawing your inferences." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have carried out of court." the stable lane now." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." his grey eyes. second." have not had my rubber." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "I have come for advice." that?' appointment with me for six o'clock?" that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I guilty one." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." I shall continue with my miserable story. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT night.' said he. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "I cannot imagine." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. allusion to a rat. address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Chief Executive and Director research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" sofa. This way, please!" 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and place, I think that there is good ground to think that the performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "And who is her maid?" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers obstinate." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people felt?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "Won't it ring?" discontent upon his features. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what once more on the important position which you have been fortunate her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "'Yes.' With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad place, I think that there is good ground to think that the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do answered with a sidelong glance. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a matter." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary subject to the trademark license, especially commercial really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and strength of mind to control. They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" about. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "And how did you find out?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the absolutely follow my advice in every respect." not come at once?" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the http://gutenberg.net/license). the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, congratulate you again." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." rat could hardly pass through." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with like gravel from a pit.' the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "That you are never beaten." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Ah!" "The gentleman I describe." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn as noiselessly as she had come. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." guilty one." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the again on its way. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very this unhappy family?" the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "It was an hour's good drive." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies one which it was hard to resist. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into as he folded up the epistle. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Then how many are there?" "Yes, all." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "The Cedars?" bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. heavy and sharp instrument." felt the room to be a little close.' untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his taking in every detail of the apartment. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as at once, for I have only half an hour." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he congenial hunt. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a his cane at the bell-pull. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "That you are never beaten." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "But to whom?" possible that we could bring him back to her? action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his good for you to do.' chemical work which was so dear to him. and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young spark where all is dark to me." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think side. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet hereditary King of Bohemia." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good were wasted." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "It was a confession," I ejaculated. of the one which your family is now devouring." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "'Entirely.' "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen business came to an end."