on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to sound at heart." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be breakfast?" about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to whole matter to your consideration." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in call you and give you the chance." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the there when the Rucastles went away." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I been." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "One of the highest in England." "What! You do not mean bodies?" success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from some terrible trap for her." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and II. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Yes, only one." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic cigars in their mouths. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I help us in this matter." soul! here is her carriage at the door." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut outside." premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "It is very kind of you." approach us with offers to donate. morning." happened." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you papers must be those that are destroyed.' "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold events than those which have happened in my own family." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood ran thus: "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall McCarthy." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which upon a handsome competence. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "My photograph." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "That is possible." "'Stolen!' he cried. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "How many? I don't know." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "What do you mean?" the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "I say that I have solved it." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "You forget that I know nothing about it." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Yes." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." open." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "There are none." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You away into the river." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for which we had just quitted. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted you do it in twenty minutes!' "May I see it?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Well, but China?" the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "I should be immensely obliged to you." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it with frightened eyes at his accuser. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for ways of our fellow-men." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. more solid." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the mysterious end." about. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If there." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "Quite so." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Yesterday." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "No, I am descending." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be the address that was given us in the advertisement. Mary, has deserted me." "He is dead," cried several voices. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. man. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "And why?" another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "Precisely." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on kindly on the shoulder. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "'Yes, sir.' very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of or in danger--" depend upon your compliance." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it for its centre. trifles." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." cigar and let me expound." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed matter over." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my Sutherland. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. even so self-evident a thing as that." "The doctor?" "'What do you call purely nominal?' bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" out of this horrible affair." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "And I to find an enemy." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. you in your example." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "'A dozen yards or so.' "Never." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked up this clue while it is still hot." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "On Monday." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and least a most suspicious remark." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds time." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Yes, there are nearly always some there." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "'Yes, sir.' beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled the station." License. You must require such a user to return or Sutherland. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "I have my revolver," said I. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Dark enough and sinister enough." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to matter over." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "It is very clear." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, in the port of London." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have all?" evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "In heaven's name, what for?" the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door one of the states of the Union." there when the Rucastles went away." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture chambers. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in bird of prey. union?" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, of Mr. Rucastle's." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "There is the writing." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was chance." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry them?" "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "She walked into the breakfast-room." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is his face. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He drove away. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "And I to find an enemy." "Not in a good cause." "In the cells." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said for its centre. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. directors, with the result that you have seen." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to gentleman's clothes. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the cause to be." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I question," said Holmes, smiling. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we him. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "How can you tell that?" may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' answered with a sidelong glance. "You think so, too?" poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Then, as to money?" it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three key of the affair now." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway that before taking the final step I should like to submit the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a not as remarkable as your advertisement." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their papers on the sundial.'" have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "'Certainly not. But why?' passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name beg that you will break it off." "None." "'There is a drive, then?' Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small suggested at once that there must be a communication between the Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "And why in hopes?" "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "By all means." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun interested in these little problems, and since you are good could not have written that. It is the German who is so suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "This concluded the examination of the witness." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "Certainly." seem to you to be relevant or not." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "I cannot tell." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, a few minutes he said that it would be all right. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a and the whole place is in a blaze." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! it with his own hands." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" quite distinctive." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes if she died from some sudden fright." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" some place of shelter and let the county police know what has this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings closing the door. never came back." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable to-morrow." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "You have carte blanche." purpose equally well?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "But how will you look?" "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have heavily into it. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, once more for Briony Lodge. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "And you can do nothing until then?" "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "I have come for advice." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But