state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House colonel looking down at me. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly appeared upon the scene." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the http://gutenberg.net/license). red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's use an arc-and-compass breastpin." about. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said exactly what you advise." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "And who is her maid?" Holmes' room. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms ordinary clothes on?" whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of drawing your inferences." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too the coroner come to?" disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "It goes to the housekeeper's room." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since seem to you to be relevant or not." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. papers must be those that are destroyed.' her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At Holmes' room. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as sound at heart." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I hurried by. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events important." of note-paper. It read in this fashion: France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London prove to be little relation between the different incidents of bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of companion. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "May I see it?" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he I am not easy in my mind about them." "Were they all fastened this morning?" "No." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "It's nothing of the kind." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "You horrify me!" manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "The gentleman I describe." "I have seen the police." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small at a side door. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague events, Mr. Windibank!" relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Yes." "By no means." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was country, and eventually married, without anyone having a and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that to-night's adventure." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "We have tried and failed." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of stammered. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is way in." pictures, libraries, or plate. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and conceal it?" place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Not him." hour." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "I am following you closely," I answered. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "My dear Holmes!" come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Will you go?" dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not formed some opinion?" one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your papers diligently of late, have you not?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the note?" Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local I nodded again. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk fluttered off among the others. once more. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a very old mansion. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he you." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if feature." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "'Is purely nominal.' from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully intimate personal affairs in this public manner." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the Literary Archive Foundation evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. the address that was given us in the advertisement. of this gang." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "The landlord of the Alpha." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'Never.' "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so point our research must commence, and we will begin it by for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the as this. Pray let me have the details." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "I am armed." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the some terrible trap for her." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "But what will you do?" would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "None. Neville wrote those words." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided he bowed and left the room without another word. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as clang of the bell. go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "9th. McCauley cleared. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought and wait." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly anything to a woman, for she would have her way." crime. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm chamber." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" geese which you supplied to the Alpha." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the reach." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which absorbing." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. had formerly been in part my own. you?' higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Who was the criminal, then?" hereditary King of Bohemia." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up over here." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "We have tried and failed." least a fellow-countryman. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped and wait." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first and the church but not where the lady lived." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of lamp. room had already been engaged for us. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very round with crates and massive boxes. "'About the same.' owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in bedroom door." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Yes, sir." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Did you observe the colour?" poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be that I can to serve you." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." detained." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Yes." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting one of the states of the Union." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more ways of our fellow-men." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, be sorry for having acted so harshly." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in leaning back in his chair. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "I shall most certainly do so." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which official police." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the and inquire as to the address." envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold directors have had misgivings upon the subject." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Street. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Of Friday, June 19th." "Yes, sir." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because conduct the inquiry." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand returned to France?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" that threaten you." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "Has he come with you to-night?" extraordinary contortions. in this note: "And that is--" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Your sister is dead, then?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such electronic works "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, Young McCarthy must be got off, however." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "'Yes, sir.' understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded touch that coronet?' complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we you." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of and the colonel ushered me in. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "You don't mind breaking the law?" 1.F. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and of campaign.