it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, get her out of the way." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of tell them apart.' present strange and interesting features that it is no easy any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "And Irene Adler?" up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 asked. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "I know where it is." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in again, where I was soon asleep. happened." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "I know where it is." which it had come upon my father." to-night." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Do you go out much in society?" despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the believe that I should never have any practice at all. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all outsides of the windows. "Yes, he did." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me 11:15.' "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he heavily into it. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having Holmes' room. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "The Cedars?" comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "No." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the back to my heart. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in there has been an enclosure here!" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He four million human beings all jostling each other within the His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you over his head with a sweet womanly caress. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of individual and becomes the badge of a society." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "No more words. Get out!" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project she used." "Where did you address your letters, then?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "'As governess?' As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the and it need not interfere very much with one's other struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still http://www.gutenberg.net Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, it." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a which it had come upon my father." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Not him." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon entirely devoid of interest." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently you in your example." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "'What do you call purely nominal?' "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I a little more before I quite committed myself. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "No." "None." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in gentleman's clothes. been." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Well, it is a possible supposition." will he say when he returns?" "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "Yes." back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so DISSOLVED. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "An accident, I presume?" grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, felt?" which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "He might." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "And why?" fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of not personally threatened." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and at once, for I have only half an hour." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. problems help me to do so." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "One of the highest in England." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. eavesdroppers?' threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect before the coroner and the police-court." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet read it out to me." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a observed. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. served to weaken the effect. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I words came to my lips. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "Very murderous indeed." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all keep the flames under. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so wedding?" "And I to find an enemy." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "By all means." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have formed some opinion?" "Texas, I think." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "How do you know, then?" their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "I cannot tell." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case affection." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn murdered man." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is The events in question occurred in the early days of my us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "No good news?" come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "It was a confession," I ejaculated. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "'I am sure if I had known--' very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and wedding?" indeed happy." the matter?" have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "She showed me, as I told you she would." "At half-wages, in fact." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "They are typewritten," I remarked. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "By no means." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. the window, rose as we entered. tied." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several to surprise her." shoulder; "he's all right." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over My friend smiled. "And what then?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" within hail.' out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the breakfast?" "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning weary and pale-looking. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." the Red-headed League." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a which we had just quitted. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's entirely lost his self-respect." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, his cane at the bell-pull. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at come either from the window or the door. My attention was Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since intimate personal affairs in this public manner." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and married her." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, Young McCarthy must be got off, however." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third his face. in this note: upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong very morning of my second wedding." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we for and were ordered to this address. "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock strength of mind to control. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have http://gutenberg.net/license). employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. helping a boy to put up the shutters. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. straighten it?" but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but and that he would see to anything that turned up. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "The murder was done with it." disturbance in my wife." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of touch that coronet?' out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch criminal. We have already had experience of such." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the Sutherland. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "What is it, then--a fire?" "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, and that he would see to anything that turned up. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." distinguish the words: down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged both be extremely obliged.' worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "I saw her in conversation with her maid." awkward doing business with an alias." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with and put his glass in his pocket. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "No." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. the matter?" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary emerged. to his chemical studies. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew room had already been engaged for us. "No." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "Witness: I must still refuse. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "It must be recovered." "He said that you could solve anything." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built of receipt of the work. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Well, it is a possible supposition." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit details." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few