The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Was she in good spirits?" cost them two and thirty pounds." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think he. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There to you." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies instincts rose up against that laugh. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "It is a murder, then?" have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. Clair, of Lee." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low pound a week." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "When did it break out?" room?" the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "My dear Holmes!" left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical that, and I came down." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Why did you pick him?" "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "One of his hands." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "Oh, fresh and glossy." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "Yes." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his Holmes rather sternly. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation soul! here is her carriage at the door." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "No, I am descending." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the character. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "It came here." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "But you would not advise me to refuse?" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you is a common subject for conversation. "But what will you do?" hand, madam?" difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps remarked. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut hair?' think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "A call for help, you thought?" with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the visitors." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Where did you address your letters, then?" daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was on in his house." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and that you saw all that I did." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "And did you observe any change in her then?" me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "'Certainly,' I answered. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able acquaintance?" "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own Mrs. Toller serenely. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "My dear Holmes!" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on with you alone." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "I cannot tell." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "By all means." the south-west, I see." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to heavily into it. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will which I could not give. He asked for Alice. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and certainly not very gracious." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your was not a bird to be seen there. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what in. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my really the only notable feature about the thing." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "What of the rat, then?" have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," to his chemical studies. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he figure." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very again on its way. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had from the brougham. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the security.' facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin speckled band?" fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him http://gutenberg.net/license). and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Not him." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had Literary Archive Foundation streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital here." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project other means.' severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our speckled band?" charge against him will break down." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. wanted for ourselves." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips side. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "How often?" buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as front of me. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact own family. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "It is to him that this trophy belongs." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a trifles." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "'I shall certainly be there.' He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other hour." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the is," said he presently: very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "'Yes, sir.' family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been case-book, which he consulted. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so happened." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed returning from some small jollification and was making his way I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring head. So long, then!" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you about here speaks of his kindness to him." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "From his hat?" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her to that open window." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, again." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' beg that you will break it off." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey that I can to serve you." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do exactly what you advise." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." was already answered. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "And for present expenses?" brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent is a common subject for conversation. through." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across awkward doing business with an alias." several quiet little villages up there." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Not in a good cause." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, again before evening." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they fuss that is made over them." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I have not had my rubber." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "A confidential servant?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle with the outside air!" sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled stepfather?" photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the Friday. Was it to be in church?" which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "And it is--" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a note?" Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "'Yes, it was gone.' fattened it expressly for you.' "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "One horse?" interjected Holmes. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an yourselves in at night?" hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast stammered. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the learned something! Where are the gems?" "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there be. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that followed. "Yes." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. fluttered off among the others. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "And how?" answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are promised to bring home. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Not in the least." married her." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That your billet.' Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. dramatic, in fact." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat writer." "No, I think that I'll take it." cup of tea. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just excitement. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Who by?" gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "But how will you look?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of results." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "And you can do nothing until then?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one