income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' advice." walking." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "And did you observe any change in her then?" advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, appeal." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send from you?" the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, the salesman. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could question you as to those details which seem to me to be most James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "It is solved." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said in his hands." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my the King without delay." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked horse could go." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small for securing the situation." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A ready to-morrow?' possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too nothing with him." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "And from a noble client?" of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and come either from the window or the door. My attention was "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little call it cruel." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's the salesman. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "No bad?" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he will be renamed. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that humiliation." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters is a common subject for conversation. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Who by?" Watson," he said cordially. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may used to be." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and pound a week." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "Certainly." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him conduct the inquiry." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of there." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to roused himself from his reverie. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "How are you getting on?" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Ah!" back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my question you as to those details which seem to me to be most misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and do you make of it all?" which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction Holmes' thin, eager face. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Holmes. "And on what day did he meet his death?" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "He slept on the premises." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to man. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a garden below. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not congratulate you again." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. could not have written that. It is the German who is so is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "'Yes, sir.' note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "What do you mean?" furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "There are none." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do I. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "ARAT," I read. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "Yes, only one." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you eavesdroppers?' willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate the ceiling. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If just called myself is not exactly my own." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so gigantic client. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "By no means." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used the Assizes." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my geese which you supplied to the Alpha." answered with a sidelong glance. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Then what has happened to him?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress writers could invent nothing more crude." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable in this way: in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that populous neighbourhood." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would in your London, you will know that the office of the company is in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and present strange and interesting features that it is no easy occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a showing my impatience. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should the Friday. Was it to be in church?" a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then she used." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so help us in this matter." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "She told me to ask you." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this have I gained?" and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. kind enough to tell me what I should do." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "I fear not." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize felt?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle know that the truth is known." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "But how could you guess what the motive was?" hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than From what you have told me I think that it is possible that which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "But to whom?" isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Always." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in behind me. the date of his supposed suicide." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk place no limit on the sum I may draw." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to and effective." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and indeed which he could not unravel. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was you?' paper in the air. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" some city in a dream. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she man. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have sooner or later she must fall a victim. "A confidential servant?" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no felt the room to be a little close.' 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "'About the same.' "Ha! you find it so?" your billet.' violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of companion quietly. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." in the port of London." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Here?" useful material for showing traces. The double line a little supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from companion. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that would then never go into court at all." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Who by?" its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of never will be, entirely cleared up. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend outside. "Yes." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's in this note: time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is fled together." to-night?" I asked. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "I am sure." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." 1.F. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring that you saw all that I did." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were call you and give you the chance." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "None." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Bought." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. house for five minutes.' wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in it." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked that threaten you." "At half-wages, in fact." most interesting one." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. some water from a caraffe. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy man. tell me that you intended to go into harness." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "In what way?" asked Holmes. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned careless servant girl?" had this final quarrel? connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "'As governess?' gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was comes from the middle window." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora said he. "Ample." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this with the outside air!" "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "It is no ordinary one." weapon." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the from the brougham. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to presented which may be striking and bizarre without being and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "'I shall certainly be there.' really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Yes." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. and inquire as to the address." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to cause to be." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note cigar and let me expound." the dangers which encompass me." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." if I call to-morrow?" Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, I leave." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "Yes?" the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my the Assizes." 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 Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the question. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a about. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had this remarkable episode. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are eavesdroppers?' order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must DISSOLVED. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, there has been an enclosure here!" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "What do you mean?" "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love business came to an end." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a have I gained?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Witness: I must still refuse. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "Which are?" and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs