where she found matters as described by the last witness. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "What then?" out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking assist you in forming an opinion." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "To the police?" "It came here." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "'What do you call purely nominal?' Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to residence of the great financier. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But writer." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs crowd. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which locked. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was could not have written that. It is the German who is so of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "I cannot as yet see any connection." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and prove to be little relation between the different incidents of but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had answered with a sidelong glance. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter she used." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, arrangements." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, the roots. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your during which he might have communicated with his friend the course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. the coroner come to?" were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." know all about it," he snarled. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would man. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "I came to find a friend." do." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "One horse?" interjected Holmes. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "It surprised me." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while him, that man would not have given me such complete information child?' struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes remarked. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "I will try. What is it?" "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "'Most admirably.' bearing upon the case." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew Leadenhall Street--and--" "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not visitors." easy-going way." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. I shall communicate with you." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to business in the City. She little knew what. "I cannot think." "It is his hat." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding derbies." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle invisible to me," I remarked. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "But how will you look?" "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has this unhappy family?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' crime. among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "You horrify me!" 1.E.9. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "To an end?" acted in my house last night?" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "'Where could I find him?' astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction death." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." away to you." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders drawing your inferences." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I may have an influence upon European history." and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "And how did he make his money?" better grown goose." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten dramatic, in fact." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "That is not always so easy." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "It looks newer than the other things?" "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended of." in the dead of the night?' reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long face and glided from the room. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "Frequently." nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. to have that photograph." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under wedding?" "I cannot imagine." nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the been anything against him. He had for years been known as a age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important a monotonous occupation." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "Your sister is dead, then?" rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey I nodded again. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still meant it for the best. exactly what you advise." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in how narrow had been my escape. think that any burglar could have done. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Well, some hundreds of times." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have residence of the great financier. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "But what is it you wish?" in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "My dear Holmes!" purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have several quiet little villages up there." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when carriage. It was a chestnut." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood you." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "In heaven's name, what for?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very feature." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "Have you it here?" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than people in all walks of life. "What office?" Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had sparkled upon his finger. in this way: held up the lantern and gazed about him. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my think that any burglar could have done. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a carpenter." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and point in the dark hollow of his hand. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, fashion which was peculiar to him. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found from the brougham. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the chemical work which was so dear to him. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. happened." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe photograph a cabinet?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the that he has suffered." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "But of what society?" taking in every detail of the apartment. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture standing smiling on the door-step. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. at a side door. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only not fit the lock." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one laugh and put his lips to my ear. "It came here." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "I fear not." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time information in his hands the value of which he did not himself house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest hurried by. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "'No, I know no one in these parts.' page at http://pglaf.org heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of cigars in their mouths. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the society." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "So I heard. You have him here?" have established a very serious case against the son of the set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the ways including including checks, online payments and credit card to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a be best to do. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the himself. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "But to whom?" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to it means?" "Yes." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "Won't it ring?" inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Certainly." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle way: John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "A client, then?" there." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Yes, sir." habit of advancing money.' received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked before, for it was considerably after midnight. key of the affair now." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Nothing?" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now