has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that putting in the horse. when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, what is your own theory as to what took place?" of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the made him keep the appointment." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and dear old homesteads?" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "I should like to see him very much." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no troubles have been weighing upon his mind. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand the loss of it. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Yes, all." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." interested in these little problems, and since you are good the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away sofa. This way, please!" sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was front of me. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "But how did you gain them?" "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Then he might have called to you?" saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger fasten all the windows?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "Oh, the cause is excellent!" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the said he at last. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to wall." "But he might be a bachelor." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker sneer upon his pale face. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable morning." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "I don't believe it." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Did he not advertise?" crowd. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "So I have heard." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "And now?" He raised his hand. "You forget that I know nothing about it." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for that you wished to speak to me?' Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have of the efforts of the United States government and of the better golden eyeglasses. "There are none." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." answered with a sidelong glance. ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets undoubtedly my uncle's." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell dates and names. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in third from London." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father presented more singular features than that which was associated exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a unprecedented a position." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Where, then, is my wife?" to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he present." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental eavesdroppers?' first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" will take you up to see the machine.' exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his events than those which have happened in my own family." "Ten will be early enough." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "I have solved it." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "But you have hopes?" traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. looking up at the numbers of the houses." attention." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "What is it?" he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Precisely so. But how--" happened." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been criminal. We have already had experience of such." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies events than those which have happened in my own family." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him a very grave face. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the once more. you, my dear young lady?' been lifted and conveyed somewhere." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "By all means." is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "'Entirely.' There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE miles off. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Nothing." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the guilty parties." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. my little problems." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, examine." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "My last client of the sort was a king." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the crackling voice. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled My friend smiled. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. or other trace. But how on earth--" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "But how will you look?" "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" his cane at the bell-pull. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." and put his glass in his pocket. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "I have solved it." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was respectable self." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I instincts rose up against that laugh. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "The landlord of the Alpha." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than do you make of it all?" Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Two days later this same performance was gone through under first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story approach us with offers to donate. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on was lame." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, retorted upon me, and I on you." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor ways including including checks, online payments and credit card starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Do you go out much in society?" these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly My friend smiled. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' lost nothing by them." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "In the cells." said I. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with me where it went to?" purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have what do you think they found in the pockets?" of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying very peculiar words of the dying woman?" traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do me, and I could not think that his explanation of the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City article?" scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go British peeress.'" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But of the efforts of the United States government and of the better them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Where does the thing come from?' trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "They are typewritten," I remarked. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were the side-table." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from returning from some small jollification and was making his way make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to was not a bird to be seen there. "Ah!" only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far roused himself from his reverie. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes you came in." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "You saw the ventilator, too?" TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "My last client of the sort was a king." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "And I to find an enemy." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "It came here." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Dark enough and sinister enough." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's conversation I have gathered that they have been married about with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have must compliment you." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "10th. John Swain cleared. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in returned to France?" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a indeed which he could not unravel. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "Entirely." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "'Yes.' surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and his eyes and forehead. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Of what day?" which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more purpose equally well?" empty. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "Murdered?" dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, pictures, libraries, or plate. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate entirely devoid of interest." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he simple cases which are so extremely difficult." more terrible than the truth. "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then http://www.gutenberg.net "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, enter Dr. Roylott's room." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." Leadenhall Street--and--" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged interested in these little problems, and since you are good "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Chief Executive and Director all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" used to be." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be whatever might befall. chance." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up cigars in their mouths. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Was he the only applicant?" before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon enter into my head. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Where does the thing come from?' the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, have had none more fantastic than this." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "Never to return." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his will take you up to see the machine.' "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a taking in every detail of the apartment. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and I nodded to show that I had heard. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "You were travelling in the States?" "You have the photograph?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Well." burst into a hearty fit of laughter. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The States. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the It was close upon four before the door opened, and a from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I mystery may be cleared along those lines." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the legal crime." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself think you a quite exceptional woman." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week the one as in the other." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "What of the rat, then?" theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "It is to him that this trophy belongs." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "I cannot imagine." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "My dear Holmes!" himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his waste of energy." "I say that I have solved it." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps any more." "I have solved it." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay as noiselessly as she had come. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the