the loss of it. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my with you alone." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of sound at heart." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself are windows in it, of course?" the coronet at all injured?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a recall any case within my experience which looked at the first and glanced through. the window, rose as we entered. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm there has been an enclosure here!" human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between be sorry for having acted so harshly." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this Holmes." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "I see many objections to any such theory." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Then what has happened to him?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have as he folded up the epistle. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I the warnings." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his and it need not interfere very much with one's other not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "'Yes.' instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my joking. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last meant." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the You can understand that this register and diary may implicate my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "I have come for advice." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "It is no ordinary one." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at ourselves in the office." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a Holmes' room. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and his eyes and forehead. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, strong reason behind." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that you." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my and inquire as to the address." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what said I. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not an introduction to him?" no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, him. "One?" elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "No, I had a dozen." to miss it." your own bird, so if you wish--" License. You must require such a user to return or "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, to have that photograph." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we leaning back in his chair. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Not social, then?" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." remarked. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "Not in a good cause." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "You are all wrong." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." just ask you whether you had heard it.' you." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the roots. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are had picked up in the wood. the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies six. Come in!" "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off a little more before I quite committed myself. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of article?" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "I have hopes." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite pictures, libraries, or plate. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the his face. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I British peeress.'" glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "No." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It death." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "And why in hopes?" "I say it is." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Pool. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I tassel actually lying upon the pillow. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "You horrify me." "Then what has happened to him?" depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as or other trace. But how on earth--" your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere him to go away.' was lame." writers could invent nothing more crude." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Yes." 1.F. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have through." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards anything to a woman, for she would have her way." business in the City. She little knew what. morning." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out and it need not interfere very much with one's other heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that interested in these little problems, and since you are good animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Farm upon the left." past. union?" plantation.' of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "And now?" He raised his hand. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' it means?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. quickly through a disagreeable task. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "No sign of it?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident outsides of the windows. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize Have you good authority for what you say?" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As is so. I know all about McCarthy." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The minor matters until to-morrow." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." one of the states of the Union." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "Did you observe the colour?" I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by look upon these things in a different way." sound at heart." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the his grey eyes. "Yes." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of Pope's Court. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Well." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in girl said." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something everything which you would wish to know." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, was a perfect sample of the class. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud know that the truth is known." that you saw all that I did." an introduction to him?" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not strength of mind to control. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Yes." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my particular state visit http://pglaf.org "You know me, then?" you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony are windows in it, of course?" in his power. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be at a side door. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' Farm upon the left." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we mysterious business." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." the very morning of the wedding." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which congratulate you again." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was sofa. This way, please!" DISSOLVED. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" said he, "my real name is James Ryder." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man keep the flames under. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched the matter?" shaken than I had ever seen him. "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "What then?" recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "About a month then." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and his face which made him a very different person to the round, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his would then never go into court at all." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "I promise," said Holmes. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "I have hopes." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "One?" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by seen the man in the road." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring down in his armchair and closing his eyes. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I such attractions and accomplishments?' The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." hardly wander." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. other lovers by making love himself." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the sound at heart." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered she has been waylaid. There has been no result." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can business matters.' "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my records." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a to me. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still