"'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready now. It seems that there had been some informality about their Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Did you become engaged then?" "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Then, how do you know?" "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "You saw the ventilator, too?" square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Yes." "That is possible." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me results." standing smiling on the door-step. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted in his power. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Pray be precise as to details," said he. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa I. "Holmes, the busybody!" sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is it." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your chambers. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." have an American origin." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend to that open window." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, maiden herself was most instructive." bearing upon the case." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to suspect him." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go upon a handsome competence. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if something of him before." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "Why did you pick him?" "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of Holmes' thin, eager face. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love she might be summoned. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside points in connection with it which never have been, and probably or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy desk. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Which are?" to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to death." "What is it, then--a fire?" years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the at home. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Entirely." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you the general public were present, then?" lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." such attractions and accomplishments?' Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small death." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, hour?' the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how highroad, where all traces were lost. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like other means.' all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "I saw her in conversation with her maid." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a persecution?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. and looked back. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "What, then?" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when ourselves in the office." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "Certainly." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I looking up at the numbers of the houses." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your interested in these little problems, and since you are good "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "And why in hopes?" brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "And it is--" to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "I would pay ten." stood on the top of it. http://gutenberg.net/license). round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "'Where to?' face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "And I to find an enemy." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a been deceived." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never disturbance in my wife." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at interested in these little problems, and since you are good weighed down with some great anxiety. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which security.' certainly not very gracious." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "But it has twice been burgled." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was delirious. my former friend and companion. seven miles from Eyford Station.' neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." humiliation." "I cannot imagine." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who read it out to me." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur Gutenberg-tm License. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with had this final quarrel? ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. to-night." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable man. I know him from the photograph." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his towards the blaze. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when noting anything else of interest. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "It is solved." "They are typewritten," I remarked. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his shag which I had seen upon the previous night. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my persecution?" together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to depend upon your compliance." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing things are very often connected not with the larger but with the station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Now, then, what's the last entry?" the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "The Coroner: What do you mean? travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Entirely." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of most interesting one." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not meanly of me." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my speckled band?" Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the cheerful." heavy and sharp instrument." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously ceremony." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "And what then?" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in and put his glass in his pocket. public press." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the again before evening." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Really! You surprise me." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "'It is locked up,' I answered. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they that he will be back before evening." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a how narrow had been my escape. "And Miss Sutherland?" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. than was visible to me." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to friend's singular character. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & with her." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "No legal papers or certificates?" Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out to that open window." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Who by?" acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the sneer upon his pale face. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. examine." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself a room. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "I should be immensely obliged to you." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and hour?' "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their points to suicide?" "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Certainly, madam." "In which, sir?" with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the drove away. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "On Monday." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "No bad?" "Always." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were the general public were present, then?" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then in the dead of the night?' "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do nothing with him." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which have one." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare vague figure huddled up in the darkness. have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by silent! Oh, he will be silent!' de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, you in your example." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Nothing." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." him to go away.' other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Yes, I have one waiting." understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend even so self-evident a thing as that." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of in the hope of finding them." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one miles off. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "But of what society?" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "'I shall certainly be there.' and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord read over the extraordinary announcement. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business became a certainty. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and again, where I was soon asleep. Literary Archive Foundation