confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I disturbance in my wife." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "Come in!" said he. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, through." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do one or two very singular points about this room. For example, the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were not come at once?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, during that time.' that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her breakfast and whispered something to her husband. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it point our research must commence, and we will begin it by long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a investigation." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily ourselves in the office." just ask you whether you had heard it.' rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "That was it, sir." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, such person." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Breckinridge is his name." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was you understand?" "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly into her hand at the door and which lured her within their This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while careless servant girl?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked indeed happy." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Imitated." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should whereabouts. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by do you make of it all?" the so-precious time, but come!' middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull test if we have an answer to our advertisement." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Nothing?" "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and new acquaintance to Baker Street. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those his huge brown hands. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the said he. is a common subject for conversation. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during electronic works slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about matter." said he at last. "Then you may entirely rely on me." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I may have an influence upon European history." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled Pope's Court. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent assist you in forming an opinion." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "What of the rat, then?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "And sit in the dark?" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. opportunities to fix the problem. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are time." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular me. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a humiliation." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I written. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found them present such singular features as the strange train of therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the later, upon the night of May 2nd." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over God! What an exposure! What can I do?" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a never will be, entirely cleared up. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Seven!" I answered. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have your Highness to the police-station?" fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day it." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I said he. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father main points of my analysis." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come where she found matters as described by the last witness. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On placed his cuttings. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "In San Francisco, a year ago." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached your billet.' at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Certainly, madam." the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need weary and pale-looking. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was know all about it," he snarled. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some plantation.' little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll ourselves in the office." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless observed. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." papers diligently of late, have you not?" such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps *** START: FULL LICENSE *** before the coroner and the police-court." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the fuss that is made over them." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Is he quiet?" state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of The telegram which we eventually received came late one night again." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and so.' above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "Yes." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Not I." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Nor running a chance of arrest?" station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a place no limit on the sum I may draw." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for you." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." copied or distributed: "There is the writing." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the as yours." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in acted in my house last night?" and have this put in the evening papers." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. official police." "What will you do, then?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I empty. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." it were putty." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Your sister is dead, then?" stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a long narrative. in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it have accepted such a situation. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant your own bird, so if you wish--" are, I think, all that we need." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle back to my heart. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to fluttered off among the others. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now helping a boy to put up the shutters. of the vacancies.' but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you breakfast?" every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a like that before?" peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the this unhappy family?" "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. bachelor.' photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "It missed him, then?" "And how?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." advice." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and about. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband business matters.' "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual troubles have been weighing upon his mind. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" golden eyeglasses. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless arrangements." begun to whiten, even as mine has." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp few hundred pounds.' been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box this poor creature." upon the shelf for the interim." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my What do you deduce from it?" multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital test if we have an answer to our advertisement." read it out to me." not come at once?" "By no means." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay them, and came down just as you departed. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." not personally threatened." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my train from Paddington which would bring you there at about little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well here and I will read it to you: very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "'And what salary do you ask?' have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "It was." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the closing the door. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social to-night?" I asked. "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more second." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." Surrey." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return our word." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of hereditary King of Bohemia." "You forget that I know nothing about it." nothing of it?" "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed presented which may be striking and bizarre without being reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See fear." joking. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly all that?" that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece yourselves in at night?" discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was rat could hardly pass through." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "You have but to name it." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a so far?" the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Was the window open?" solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Very truly yours, and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my returned to France?" "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be Street. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Come in!" said Holmes. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." second window is the one that I jumped from." more terrible than the truth. "And on what day did he meet his death?" useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "'Most admirably.' "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the wedding?" that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a over his head with a sweet womanly caress. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment door?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just outside. towards the blaze. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that believe that I should never have any practice at all. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "In which, sir?" coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Is he quiet?" that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her desk. sneer upon his pale face. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "We have tried and failed." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "What! You do not mean bodies?" who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "I think that it is very probable." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face said he, "my real name is James Ryder." present." Clair, of Lee." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "I fear not." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your indeed which he could not unravel. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to