avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." What do you deduce from it?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty You can understand that this register and diary may implicate would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the him to go away.' I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his visitors." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen as yours." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any new acquaintance to Baker Street. "You have a clue?" it." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed nonsense.' perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take might have a private word with us. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "And I to find an enemy." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "I have my revolver," said I. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "And sit in the dark?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." it were putty." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "A greater distance to travel." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, anything to do with the matter?" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove written, and locked the door of the office after me. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the impression behind it as though a window had gently closed tail." "One?" recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the him." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke think you a quite exceptional woman." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "You are all wrong." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess comes from the middle window." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Which are?" which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "About a month then." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Doctor, of the paper and the date." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "It is solved." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he call you and give you the chance." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Project Gutenberg-tm works. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Why, it's a dummy," said he. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on a room. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I this poor creature." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "And it is--" c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "What do you mean?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." of receipt of the work. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn used to be." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which page at http://pglaf.org Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst ready to-morrow?' "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, next day. "Very truly yours, "Very murderous indeed." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "You will not go there first?" It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." unkempt, staring out at me. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' weigh very heavily upon my conscience." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us thin, with a long, sharp nose?" way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Your sister is dead, then?" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "And how did you verify them?" he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Surrey." my little problems." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of do." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "It's nothing of the kind." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his villagers almost as much as their master. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Not him." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "He is still with you, I presume?" "How do you know, then?" A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and Sholtos." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Not I." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook power." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "And now?" I asked. said he. "Stolen, then." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "Yes." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think from the brougham. dear old homesteads?" in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, miles off. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Why did you beat the pavement?" "I should wish to." a good hundred miles off by now." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." pound a week." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "What then?" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Yes, at the mines." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, be. "But the mystery?" would apply.' believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to of Mr. Rucastle's." one else, I think." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the absolutely follow my advice in every respect." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt whole matter to your consideration." "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a his forehead." clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly the stones. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies client, rising. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner kind enough to tell me what I should do." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as and laid it on the table. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Imitated." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "And how did you verify them?" "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the suddenly upon us." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to ventilator." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! License. You must require such a user to return or We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "And now?" He raised his hand. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "'And the work?' certainly not very gracious." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his daring than any effort of the imagination." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to the stable lane now." "He might." there in twenty minutes." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. meant." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, derbies." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Yesterday." o'clock is it?" "And you don't know his address?" his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out his grey eyes. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of written. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil tear off another piece?' his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much such person." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied asked. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "And why in hopes?" and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Here?" follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "We must have a cab." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in if only as a check to my own memory." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of rose-bushes. "But I am all in the dark." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "'And what salary do you ask?' heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. bird of prey. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying intimate personal affairs in this public manner." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional is four-and-twenty." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The the very morning of the wedding." all?" very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "Yes. He waved his hands." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. bedroom door." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I it. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "It's nothing of the kind." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Awake, Watson?" he asked. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous to where he stood hid behind the curtain. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind peculiar to him. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the one's self under obligations.' was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope chance at all." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Leadenhall Street--and--" "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "On your arm?" But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have was a perfect sample of the class. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "No."