Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Not yet." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' about here speaks of his kindness to him." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to Eyford at 11:15.' smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those and prosperity to your house. Good-night." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "He slept on the premises." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. the date of his supposed suicide." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, off." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it heavily into it. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously which it had come upon my father." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." lumber-room." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and here." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "You have the photograph?" night.' said he. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS to me. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and believe that I should never have any practice at all. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the telegram would bring me down to your help." "And how did you verify them?" Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect friends, not even his own brother. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has fear." "'I am sure if I had known--' every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "What office?" for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Why serious?" granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Ah!" lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they relation between them, and what the object of his repeated hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of words came to my lips. "Perfectly so." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." her also." of them has the shutters up.' conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Nothing?" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, Dr. Gregory B. Newby very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant in the dead of the night?' on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Yes." or in danger--" at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP night.' said he. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very examine." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom said he. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we gentleman's clothes. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "Proceed, then." this poor creature." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for of the vacancies.' he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "It is very clear." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Frequently." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and yet." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation paper in the air. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." them?" "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned during which he might have communicated with his friend the wedding?" other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to have I gained?" know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet Street. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he them?" "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial bare slabs of marble. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "It is possible." may never be exposed to such a temptation." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster meant." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and o'clock is it?" go from here to the Strand." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight upon the shelf for the interim." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "This photograph!" my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, goes." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from hair?' my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "You have carte blanche." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been go back?" and put his glass in his pocket. electronic works Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, clanging. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and mystery." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Then you may entirely rely on me." "What office?" again, where I was soon asleep. on in his house." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if he died? pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob attention." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "It certainly sounds feasible." have I gained?" "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have What do you deduce from it?" used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Pray be precise as to details," said he. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. hardly wander." appeared upon the scene." and glanced through. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "What is it, then--a fire?" smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back bed dies. Does not that strike you?" Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his were new raised from a basin. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must Henry Baker is a member." case-book, which he consulted. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. fasten all the windows?" that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Then how many are there?" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "No legal papers or certificates?" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could could go. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the to that open window." McCarthy's innocence. foot. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "It certainly sounds feasible." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' have an American origin." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle bachelor.' the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "I am about to be married." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "I was mad--insane." row." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither that the gas is not laid on in his house?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended detained." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Yes, that is the Crown." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Pray continue your narrative." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked friends, not even his own brother. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who 11:15.' that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "I will, Miss Turner." "How are you getting on?" case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a coat-tails." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Then what has happened to him?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he skylight. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the warnings." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and stepfather?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." formed some opinion?" "What then?" "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the opened the door, and slipped through. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from any." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with some place of shelter and let the county police know what has off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Look there!" said he. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me stammered. He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Holmes. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder me have 200 pounds?' knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had sake, don't!" dates and names. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good mystery!" depend upon my doing so.' recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a imbecility!" he cried. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an entirely lost his self-respect." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' for its centre. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three you came in." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "You are all wrong." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Yes, sir." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I envelope. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by opened the door, and slipped through. "No." "He is dead," cried several voices. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a indeed happy." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying look upon these things in a different way." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. the stable lane now." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew both be extremely obliged.' when you have done it." invisible to me," I remarked. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent introspective fashion. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, of campaign. "And what did you see?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough know all about it," he snarled. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "And why?" "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London one's self under obligations.' "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw danger is over." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had on re-entering her father's house?" gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that