out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Mary, has deserted me." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, bled considerably." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it your room." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the questioning and rather startled gaze. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive certainly not very gracious." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Yes?" each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same your only hope of safety." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "I would pay ten." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the Mrs. Toller serenely. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "I warn you that they are very incomplete." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying is so. I know all about McCarthy." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my morning." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know one of the states of the Union." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one tell them apart.' "Where to?" pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "I say that I have solved it." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Seven!" I answered. "Entirely." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to there when the Rucastles went away." "'What then?' I asked. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "'And what salary do you ask?' of note-paper. It read in this fashion: was a lad." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those problems help me to do so." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "Your presence might be invaluable." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon fled together." "It must be recovered." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "What is it?" said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her window when the police appeared." "And how did you verify them?" there is a decided draught." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough there was no need for father to know." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Yes." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." crime." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. signal between you and your father? then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and not as remarkable as your advertisement." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I him and tried to hold him back. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third legal crime." Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "So I heard. You have him here?" other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Ten will be early enough." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it woven round him. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "It is half-past ten now." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." instituted." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, both be extremely obliged.' words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "If I can be of use." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel burst out into a roar of laughter. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I served to weaken the effect. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** seem to you to be relevant or not." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little away into the river." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between rat could hardly pass through." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "What of the rat, then?" Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. and inquire as to the address." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either peculiar to him. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "How do you know, then?" a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "You will not go there first?" ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." affection." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "And that is--" begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Then, how do you know?" It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "I will try. What is it?" upon the shelf for the interim." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, furiously. it." "You forget that I know nothing about it." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went away into the river." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "How are you getting on?" "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "I am to be neutral?" wedding?" "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City call you and give you the chance." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The remarked. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had Holmes rather sternly. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "Bought." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his yards of it?' morning." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "But it has twice been burgled." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off followed. which our visitor detailed to us. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "'I have already given you my word.' 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he which our visitor detailed to us. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it look dissatisfied." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Won't it ring?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I to some other building. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most shoulder. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said think that any burglar could have done. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "Entirely." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the nothing of it?" "But his lameness?" in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met what do you think they found in the pockets?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He maiden herself was most instructive." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "My own seal." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "Now, then, what's the last entry?" and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and acquaintance?" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has before, for it was considerably after midnight. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn in this note: envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in his face which made him a very different person to the round, police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a It may be so in this case, also." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed four million human beings all jostling each other within the web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "We must have a cab." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you must compliment you." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "And what did you see?" shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing conceal it?" said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' time." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a help us in this matter." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "Just look it up, then." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we a monotonous occupation." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Yesterday." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "'I am sure that I do not know.' "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a yourselves in at night?" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps before, for it was considerably after midnight. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the Gutenberg-tm License. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "Ample." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. enter into my head. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, foresight and the moral retrogression?" confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. article?" practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of to me. know that the truth is known." to surprise her." The King stared at him in amazement. "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have once more. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "Who was the criminal, then?" could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down client, rising. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the this as likely?" lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and the night.' "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE been lifted and conveyed somewhere." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes breakfast?" should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. guilty parties." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my with the outside air!" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" was already answered. present." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "But not more so than I to find you." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Ample." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "Nothing." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. coroner's jury." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off so far?" upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from gone. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one present." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back investigation." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's hurried by. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of himself in a perplexing position. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, dear old homesteads?" from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "I should be immensely obliged to you." tail." official police." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, walking." definite end. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by presume?" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" public press." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read anything to a woman, for she would have her way." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "But I am all in the dark." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "A greater distance to travel." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would Project Gutenberg-tm works. I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Nothing." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too I nodded to show that I had heard. that, and I came down." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" enough to aid us in our search." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised