said he at last. "You forget that I know nothing about it." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the crime. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to examine." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I have solved it." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled strength of mind to control. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight chamber." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One never will be, entirely cleared up. been with you?" lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had the coronet at all injured?" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "Absolutely?" fear." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at go from here to the Strand." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. were wasted." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from be there in time for your coming." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father the south-west, I see." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her recover the gem." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the head. So long, then!" your most interesting statement." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were James Windibank. Voilà tout!" go from here to the Strand." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, your Highness to the police-station?" "What can it mean?" I gasped. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Street. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "My dear Holmes!" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in test if we have an answer to our advertisement." corner of the building. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "'Where could I find him?' his eyes and forehead. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Murdered?" comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Yes." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "It is very clear." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." money should be paid at once.' serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be even so self-evident a thing as that." to Leatherhead. "Did your wife hear all this?" hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be Miss Holder?" do." "I should be immensely obliged to you." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Where did he live, then?" bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had Street. "Precisely." "I should wish to." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, better in every way that they should make their position a little of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "I was mad--insane." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "None." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," clang of the bell. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "And on what day did he meet his death?" and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more any." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at During two years I have had three consultations and one small near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right appointment with me for six o'clock?" before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend little trying to do so much typewriting?" "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were ways of our fellow-men." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "Oh, yes, easily." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, weighed down with some great anxiety. purpose of examination. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it straightened it out again. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms asked with his eyes open. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should system of imprisonment?" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly as yours." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "Breckinridge is his name." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I rat could hardly pass through." "But who is he?" "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." south, for the country is more deserted there." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, outside. those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE morning." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up fishes. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of few hundred pounds.' "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "He disappeared so suddenly." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "You know me, then?" body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus been deceived." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your in a very precise fashion." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "We must have a cab." Have you good authority for what you say?" contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money the coronet in his hands?" "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "None." posted to-day." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham characteristics, but those are the more obvious." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "Yes." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting breakfast?" connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, have an American origin." the so-precious time, but come!' of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either along the entire front of the house, with three long windows could not account in any way for the presence of the missing corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal becomes even more simple." his knees, staring into the fire. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "My opinion is in no way altered." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you relation between them, and what the object of his repeated permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, of Fenchurch Street." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have upon an income of about 60 pounds." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" father's young wife. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I My friend smiled. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. later, upon the night of May 2nd." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "What then?" foresight and the moral retrogression?" produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael congratulate you again." "Dirty?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a woven round him. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. guilty one." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Bought." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Never." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have villagers almost as much as their master. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble I shall continue with my miserable story. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange visitors." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Very murderous indeed." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" looking up at the numbers of the houses." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The learned something! Where are the gems?" http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and that he would see to anything that turned up. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "No?" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could who was a member of your goose club." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted fled together." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, chemical work which was so dear to him. A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "I am sure." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he row." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" back into the street. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "'Is purely nominal.' not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." empty. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "In San Francisco, a year ago." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Ah, but I was recommended to you." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "Thank you. And your address?" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "But how did you gain them?" "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw enough to aid us in our search." father's young wife. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I locked." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are