envelope. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" there in twenty minutes." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "What?" Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Yes." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "From his hat?" down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any already been minutely examined." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "By no means." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Was he the only applicant?" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "What of the rat, then?" fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this cigars in their mouths. "No." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a manager. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" footfalls from the street. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, had formerly been in part my own. "They are typewritten," I remarked. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "How many? I don't know." "I am armed." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Nothing?" "Yes, from Horsham." gone. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life to where he stood hid behind the curtain. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the hopeless attempt at recovering them." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small future lives." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." in a friendly supper." unkempt, staring out at me. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. writing, and yet I know it well." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom straightened it out again. thought that she would have been so carried away." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. remarked. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I there!' "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his not come at once?" Mary, has deserted me." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to I took the paper from him and read as follows: observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen fled together." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "But to whom?" discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. just ask you whether you had heard it.' "You have but to name it." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of side. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "'Is 4 pounds a week.' take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to crackling voice. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. this as likely?" the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "What! You do not mean bodies?" "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "Precisely." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the not come at once?" know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the it. "Where did he live, then?" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client conversation I have gathered that they have been married about rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who ashen face. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we Street. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, were unconscious?" closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would awaited us upon the table. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you feature." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a think you a quite exceptional woman." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "But how will you look?" his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of Mary, has deserted me." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in here." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "'Where to?' story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "How do you know, then?" Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal it." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "And leave your case unfinished?" clanging. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly noting anything else of interest. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain the matter." his wife has ceased to love him." guilty parties." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an was used.' "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual bird I ate is country bred." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of if only as a check to my own memory." "Pray continue your narrative." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view note?" than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have there was no need for father to know." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would and shall probably return to London by the evening train." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It the driver. directly by questioning you." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Yes." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but London for the present?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "One horse?" interjected Holmes. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa back into the street. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." outsides of the windows. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "I was sure that I might rely on you." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor Holmes." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "Married! When?" "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "That is possible." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure gbnewby@pglaf.org stalked out of the room. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of figure." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Oh, yes, easily." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to remarked. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl the dangers which encompass me." affair. all that?" the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, other means.' springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all of them has the shutters up.' there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Munro.' out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do are, I think, all that we need." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon should be taken.' asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are I leave." with the outside air!" "So it appears." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the stable lane now." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Imitated." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. nonsense.' them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the some terrible trap for her." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had question," said Holmes, smiling. this as likely?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking arrested. You then--" "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been me have 200 pounds?' It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one money should be paid at once.' again before evening." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "And who is her maid?" This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat must compliment you." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "Yes." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Pray let us have it, for all that." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" lips." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, tied." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. it." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Perhaps I have." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "I say that I have solved it." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "That is it on the dressing-table." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others case-book, which he consulted. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. copied or distributed: indiscretion." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need gone. not come at once?" "Precisely." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out straighten it?" "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." chambers. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, chance at all." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." indeed which he could not unravel. particular state visit http://pglaf.org endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Entirely." photograph?" right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at Lee, in the county of Kent." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Not yet." "What! Had he lost his wife?" should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to in the dead of the night?' she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him with her." ready to-morrow?' preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "'In my own bureau.' figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate hereditary King of Bohemia." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of