Countess of Morcar's?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an is now desirous of getting those letters back." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Very truly yours, from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give considering the formidable letters which were received by himself filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time a little more before I quite committed myself. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes, the wine-cellar." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with handed it to him. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "But we can't all be." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "I have solved it." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced outsides of the windows. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'Where to?' what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my situation." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, shaken than I had ever seen him. handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly the one as in the other." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He interested in these little problems, and since you are good "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing it were putty." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the photograph?" to have been novel and of interest." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Certainly." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." chair. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining was a loud and authoritative tap. who was a member of your goose club." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an room?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, this poor creature." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "It is possible." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I lumber-room." tightly behind him. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend suddenly upon us." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be new duties?' passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with there is a decided draught." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "How did he come?" "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester house for five minutes.' the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For nothing of it?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Now, then, what's the last entry?" his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. people in all walks of life. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter husband's writing, madam." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "'Stolen!' he cried. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "One of the highest in England." events, Mr. Windibank!" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Arthur Conan Doyle perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "And why?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my discontent upon his features. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you details should find their way into the papers. Inspector sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been impression behind it as though a window had gently closed Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently where we are going." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "I was mad--insane." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "At what time?" another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to conduct the inquiry." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the other means.' "What do you mean?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "BALLARAT." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Nearly eleven." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this stammered. "When did she vanish, then?" face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to returning from some small jollification and was making his way slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Very murderous indeed." was used.' breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "His face fell immediately. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and my friend's incisive reasoning. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning had a long day." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. touch that coronet?' fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved Street. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! than to us. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "No." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look call it cruel." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "I saw her in conversation with her maid." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's Cross for the Continent." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Where does the thing come from?' "No more words. Get out!" "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to shall use the carriage to-night." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train him." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. reach." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise golden eyeglasses. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner the armchair which I pushed forward for him. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Will you go?" passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "But how could you guess what the motive was?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE as noiselessly as she had come. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety in a friendly supper." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "But how will you look?" style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt public press." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a himself in a perplexing position. "How on earth--" and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Where, then, is my wife?" pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating any little problem which you may submit to me." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. is," said he presently: joking. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about out of this horrible affair." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. tension within him. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Upon what point?" our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt anything to do with the matter?" like that before?" "Here?" they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like beyond words. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it coroner's jury." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other enter Dr. Roylott's room." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "And sit in the dark?" "BALLARAT." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Where did he live, then?" overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all a good hundred miles off by now." "'No, I know no one in these parts.' one's self under obligations.' re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "You forget that I know nothing about it." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and friends, not even his own brother. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid make me his representative both with the servants and with the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they along the entire front of the house, with three long windows reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence gives a meaning to it." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "By all means." returning from some small jollification and was making his way pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers tightly behind him. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "'Quite sure, dad.' opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact points in connection with it which never have been, and probably and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, conclusions. go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to bears upon the case?" observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the begun to whiten, even as mine has." be. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." purpose of examination. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure characteristics, but those are the more obvious." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the it." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the companion imperturbably. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as furiously. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "And did you observe any change in her then?" lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that without a word or a look. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to furiously.