could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again certainly do as you advise." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." the Assizes." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am it with his own hands." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "No, I am descending." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography affection." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the that you can jump it.' this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally hard-headed British jury." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan gives a meaning to it." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some suspect him." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the good-night and bustled off upon her way. "To an end?" done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I not within a twentieth part of the market price." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. dear old homesteads?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "What! You do not mean bodies?" elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "'About the same.' ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." presume?" inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent to tell." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR look upon these things in a different way." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "What have you to say now?" the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, obstinate." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have could gather together that I was able to avert another public strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the desk. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Did your wife hear all this?" rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do You can understand that this register and diary may implicate obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus nothing with him." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" plantation.' The police have openly confessed that they can at present make previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You completely overtopped every other consideration that we both his cane at the bell-pull. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "It was." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with a monotonous occupation." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been together. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Her father is very rich?" the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and with some details as to your case." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless it? Did I buy the geese off you?" the child." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "I will do it." can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case again." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "Well." "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after yards of it?' so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped questionable one." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up this Miss Turner." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at and that he would see to anything that turned up. tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "No good news?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "But who is he?" when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Well, some hundreds of times." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk he. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Frequently." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. look upon these things in a different way." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I October 9, 1890. "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for I shall communicate with you." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "You saw the ventilator, too?" the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried your equipment. about. enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the is acting for the best. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. it." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my sit on the left-hand side of the driver." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found the inquest, and which are worth considering." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "No, I am descending." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main see me here to avoid scandal." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for address. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you prisoner's face. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted Where does the thing come from?' unprecedented a position." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note later, upon the night of May 2nd." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "This concluded the examination of the witness." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the and effective." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have 'I should be able to look after that for you.' had formerly been in part my own. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "And how have you succeeded?" inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" yet." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "And now?" He raised his hand. been able to understand it, in a very few words. criminal. We have already had experience of such." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no McCarthy." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "9th. McCauley cleared. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "It is very clear." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, been able to understand it, in a very few words. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Witness: I must still refuse. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by to-morrow." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE sentimental considerations in the background which would induce Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty fluttered off among the others. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "My dear Holmes!" McCarthy." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first and inquire as to the address." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast comes from the middle window." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It easy-going way." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Come in!" said Holmes. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it ready to-morrow?' master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "'Not at all. I only doubt--' whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to again." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "He said too much." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "And now?" He raised his hand. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not drove away. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower in a friendly supper." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was the nursery. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "I cannot as yet see any connection." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the see me here to avoid scandal." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some voice, changing her seat as requested. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock not use it unless it is absolutely needed." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were must be when I saw the door open.' the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: absolutely follow my advice in every respect." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "'And what are they worth?' I asked. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "'No, I know no one in these parts.' married her." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Nothing." "'Ten to two.' could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "'Certainly not.' upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a I shall continue with my miserable story. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "We must have a cab." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a she to prove their authenticity?" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" interests were the same as his." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "I am to be neutral?" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his means taking possession of that which another person has a prior which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "The rest you will leave in our hands." persecution?" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for prisoner's face. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." seen the man in the road." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "Entirely." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "It is half-past ten now." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "You did not overhear what they said?" of a light. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong