"'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the room had already been engaged for us. you." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of goes." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "'And what salary do you ask?' or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. hardly wander." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. be there in time for your coming." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your tied." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "I say it is." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that prove to be little relation between the different incidents of with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "What of the rat, then?" "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest putting in the horse. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "He said too much." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are not, dad?" she asked. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely John Swain, of St. Augustine. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." felt?" important." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Stoke Moran." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture attention." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "How long did she speak to this Alice?" true." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "What shall I do?" have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was which our visitor detailed to us. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I quite distinctive." daring than any effort of the imagination." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "Bought." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "Eh? What was that?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "You saw the ventilator, too?" "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. the salesman. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as most interesting one." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg entirely lost his self-respect." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "We must sit without light. He would see it through the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country of the efforts of the United States government and of the better Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "That you are never beaten." "By all means." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up chemical work which was so dear to him. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My and laid it on the table. "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And tension within him. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was next day. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and brought there to personate someone, and the real person is gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "What steps will you take?" I asked. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, that you wished to speak to me?' your own bird, so if you wish--" used to be." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in Holmes' room. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away outbreak?" utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "I will get her to show me." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Were they all fastened this morning?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Only as much as we can deduce." "How can you tell that?" consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He you." what do you think they found in the pockets?" the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "When did she vanish, then?" conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "By no means." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "Witness: I must still refuse. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Then I can wait in the next room." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Tired-looking or fresh?" brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Precisely." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" pictures, libraries, or plate. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "And your mother is alive?" not, dad?" she asked. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "And how did you verify them?" "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I to change my dress. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those dates and names. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would with frightened eyes at his accuser. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "I have a cab outside." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss wedding?" wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been particular state visit http://pglaf.org SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "It is very clear." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Yes." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't danger is over." to-night." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which instituted." "Why, what do you mean?" astonishment. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "And why?" the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see stepfather?" do.' find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "'I have already given you my word.' the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with stammered. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle you." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not in his power. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "'Oh, no.' Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Well, it is a possible supposition." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and eavesdroppers?' nice household for a young lady." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and fishes. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" kindly on the shoulder. "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he garden below. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the woven round him. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a face and glided from the room. horse could go." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." at my own good fortune. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present bill, which interests me deeply." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "What office?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and But Holmes shook his head gravely. official police." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small a little more before I quite committed myself. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had triumphant cloud from his cigarette. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my Countess of Morcar's?" too. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid come either from the window or the door. My attention was "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "And Irene Adler?" unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his call you and give you the chance." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, again." "My stepfather's business papers." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. if she died from some sudden fright." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "'What, the red-headed man?' bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' reach." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "But she could not love him." do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured is a common subject for conversation. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Yes." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "No, my brougham is waiting." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "Yes, he did." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "Yes, all." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two it with his own hands." congenial hunt. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "No." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an few hundred pounds.' a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as you." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "One?" had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not ran thus: a monotonous occupation." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his corner of the building. I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not His smile broadened. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "But we can't all be." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any when your master had gone out." "Precisely." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When completely overtopped every other consideration that we both not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "I cannot think." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "But I have heard all that you have heard." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and better in every way that they should make their position a little "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the room?" Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the seem to you to be relevant or not." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my breakfast?" of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been pound a week." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "But I am all in the dark." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "You were travelling in the States?" light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause Farm upon the left." coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "What do you make of that, Watson?" at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "But it has twice been burgled." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "At half-wages, in fact." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "And I." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which that there was nothing in it, after all." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must the salesman. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it fat-encircled eyes. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Yes." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Of what?" woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' during that time.' possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "One of his hands." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety