of." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Nothing?" The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell prisoner's face. "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this man. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "Witness: Nothing definite. spark where all is dark to me." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Tired-looking or fresh?" air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most case-book, which he consulted. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning beyond words. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before dramatic, in fact." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over residence of the great financier. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his go from here to the Strand." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "None. Neville wrote those words." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "It's nothing of the kind." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "You have the photograph?" him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "My dear Holmes!" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "What do you make of that, Watson?" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and had picked up in the wood. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith thin legs towards the fire. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. there." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "'I have heard so.' that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so business came to an end." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very tied." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do License. You must require such a user to return or confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any remarked. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Your presence might be invaluable." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the you in your example." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "'And what are they worth?' I asked. question. "Nothing." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, arrangements." the roots. your only hope of safety." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before horse could go." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They on in his house." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a possible that we could bring him back to her? Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "You are all wrong." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Again Holmes raved in the air. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to the coronet in his hands?" his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, nonsense.' down from London to inquire more deeply into it." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little four million human beings all jostling each other within the recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, will take you up to see the machine.' somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "One of his hands." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem head. So long, then!" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a affection." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." question," said Holmes, smiling. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Here?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would hurried away. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide behind me. "How can you tell that?" thin legs towards the fire. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "'It is locked up,' I answered. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." tail." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and locked. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our the coronet in his hands?" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "Precisely." undoubtedly my uncle's." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Quite so. She has her freedom." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "It looks newer than the other things?" And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, orange pips. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as nonsense.' come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured was a loud and authoritative tap. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about evidence," I remarked. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "And is that all?" "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her all?" from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside intrusion of other matters." and laid it on the table. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, cheerful." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place third from London." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who burst into a hearty fit of laughter. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "You'll never persuade me to believe that." ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident been." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "The Cedars?" notes," he said. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Indeed! Whose, then?" advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment I leave." Doctor, of the paper and the date." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Yes, it would be as well." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her introspective fashion. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project is worth.' seen the man in the road." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at that there was nothing in it, after all." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was during the last few years, and there are many noble families to which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said the date of his supposed suicide." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced with the outside air!" and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free the running down." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the how narrow had been my escape. "When did she vanish, then?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the for securing the situation." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "'And what are they worth?' I asked. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole one or two very singular points about this room. For example, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Yes, at the mines." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such absolutely follow my advice in every respect." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Nothing." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both that I am arrested." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that fuss that is made over them." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "How about poison?" determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "You think so, too?" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "'Yes, I promise.' was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of at a side door. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and without a word or a look. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' will he say when he returns?" "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he foresight and the moral retrogression?" empty. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The started for the Temple to see my husband. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "How on earth--" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave make me his representative both with the servants and with the the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "But he might be a bachelor." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, had no one to advise her at such a crisis." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All and I shall be with you presently." hurried away. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you how narrow had been my escape. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for remarked. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "'About the same.' fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, is so. I know all about McCarthy." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight made his money." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for over with notes and figures. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "An enemy?" brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "That you are never beaten." "Was there a secret marriage?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive arrested. You then--" "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or villagers almost as much as their master. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. there." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken which it had come upon my father." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been there is a decided draught." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.