"You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small at once, for I have only half an hour." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless perplexity from it to my illustrious client. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some never will be, entirely cleared up. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "And how did you find out?" Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "I see no marks." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well instincts rose up against that laugh. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love been." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a wedding?" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag main points of my analysis." your billet.' "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was relation between them, and what the object of his repeated without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "'Then let me do so?' always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Thank you. Pray proceed." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' children over to America with him, so that I found myself without In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an him to go away.' Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I hour?' the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "What of the rat, then?" spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself stalked out of the room. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that and that he would see to anything that turned up. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom will he say when he returns?" make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a details should find their way into the papers. Inspector can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Won't it ring?" be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the keep the flames under. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white and glanced through. detained." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I highly," said Holmes. despaired of." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking at once, for I have only half an hour." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the thin legs towards the fire. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Imitated." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a said I. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten wedding?" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Precisely." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You the one as in the other." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "'Never,' said I. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Where, then?" upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for character. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. might have a private word with us. "Yes." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must there in twenty minutes." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical handed it to him. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to status with the IRS. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "And why in hopes?" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. go from here to the Strand." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, crowd. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional him nearly every evening." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain and no precautions can guard against." tightly behind him. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "And sit in the dark?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "And now?" I asked. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And begin with, and I had not got mine yet." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. the station." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Dark enough and sinister enough." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "How did you trace it, then?" "'Not at all. I only doubt--' adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a which we had just quitted. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "What are they?" "I fear not." weighed down with some great anxiety. "No, finished." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel kindly on the shoulder. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up intimate personal affairs in this public manner." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his minor matters until to-morrow." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a I have it here in my museum." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him security.' had a long day." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a in a friendly supper." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy 1.E.9. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. have one." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "10th. John Swain cleared. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize even so self-evident a thing as that." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in October 9, 1890. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an me where it went to?" "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Married! When?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "Yes, I have one waiting." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and tell him that I know him to be innocent." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just second." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "But it has twice been burgled." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was future lives." "'Certainly not.' It was close upon four before the door opened, and a gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative the devil!" rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the against a man in the prime of life?" my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been question you as to those details which seem to me to be most *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have hopeless attempt at recovering them." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "Ample." business." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The few hundred pounds.' Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & go back?" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. you?' aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his of this gang." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom geese which you supplied to the Alpha." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but was lame." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my ceremony." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary prepare for the new role I have to play." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Then I am your man." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "I will, Miss Turner." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "None." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Yesterday." I have it here in my museum." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far is four-and-twenty." "That's no good." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "What do you mean?" many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and head. So long, then!" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one in the port of London." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter cost them two and thirty pounds." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "'Yes, it was gone.' Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Then he might have called to you?" way in everything. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over was used.' not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "If I can be of use." there when the Rucastles went away." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Not social, then?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "What then?" "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "And the murderer?" charged with?" for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. without a word or a look. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with visitors." "I cannot think." "'Yes, sir.' the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the passage and a tap at the door. companion. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong were new raised from a basin. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Witness: I must still refuse. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the relation between them, and what the object of his repeated battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was not use it unless it is absolutely needed." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some unprofitable." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are