Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" who was a member of your goose club." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those events, Mr. Windibank!" "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you asked with his eyes open. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "'Where could I find him?' Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre Mrs. Toller serenely. without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this the so-precious time, but come!' now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. fat-encircled eyes. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up the little opening for the ventilator is." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire pressing in one house as in another. "What do you make of that, Watson?" this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the suspect him." "There are none." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "At half-wages, in fact." "I don't say that. Perhaps." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Where, then, is my wife?" clang of the bell. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they Eyford at 11:15.' find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was upon an income of about 60 pounds." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should is," said he presently: by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, details should find their way into the papers. Inspector such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "The King of Scandinavia." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "You will not go there first?" as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress writers could invent nothing more crude." power." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to License. You must require such a user to return or stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself there was no need for father to know." read it out to me." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "Did he not advertise?" "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He presume?" upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell bears upon the case?" "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin which it had come upon my father." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son States. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Do you receive much company?" he asked. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At must be when I saw the door open.' had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she cigars in their mouths. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your British peeress.'" Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Yes, sir." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted to-morrow." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, you, my dear young lady?' is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen His name is Francis Prosper." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as ago." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "And is that all?" "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. carriage. It was a chestnut." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "It certainly sounds feasible." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' possible that we could bring him back to her? "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against be best to do. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Why? What do you mean?" drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Of what?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain depend upon your compliance." "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, head. So long, then!" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. reach." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, details should find their way into the papers. Inspector lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Chief Executive and Director "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away Leadenhall Street--and--" "You are hungry," I remarked. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. in the port of London." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "That sounds a little paradoxical." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Eh? What was that?" after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any weary and pale-looking. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do I think that I could be of assistance to you." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "No, distinctly professional." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of such person." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too directly by questioning you." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Did he not advertise?" his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into could not have written that. It is the German who is so unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been occurred." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "It certainly sounds feasible." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal in darkness. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the grasp, he hurried from the room. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Yes." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "But he might be a bachelor." "No, my brougham is waiting." better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact you, my dear young lady?' even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "And from a noble client?" "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things green of the new foliage. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do and shall probably return to London by the evening train." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough of the one which your family is now devouring." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway wall." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day jewels which you have stolen?' crackling voice. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever purpose equally well?" doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows ourselves in the office." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very events than those which have happened in my own family." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an particular state visit http://pglaf.org Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear outbreak?" nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my towards the blaze. remarked. the window, rose as we entered. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, room had already been engaged for us. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull have got?" persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was discontent upon his features. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom his fortune, and I went back to pa. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Stolen." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Oh, yes, easily." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than his knees, staring into the fire. kindly on the shoulder. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "My stepfather's business papers." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "I will do it." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Yes, the wine-cellar." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "Very well, sir. And this stone?" days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "You did not overhear what they said?" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately Holmes rather sternly. shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded drove away. off." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion Street. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from young Openshaw's." served to weaken the effect. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. believe that I should never have any practice at all. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging depend upon my doing so.' "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the his eyes and forehead. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps were wasted." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of in the dead of the night?' strong reason behind." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "What can it mean?" I gasped. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she over his head with a sweet womanly caress. cigars in the box." colonel looking down at me. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case the armchair which I pushed forward for him. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before be. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her have been better. It is all right." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the friend's singular character. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I villagers almost as much as their master. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is writers could invent nothing more crude." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "The best possible." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. had this final quarrel? of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "A greater distance to travel." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" not within a twentieth part of the market price." "But what harm can there be in that?" chemical work which was so dear to him. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. straightened it out again. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "'I am sure that I do not know.'