call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' shadow pass over his face as I spoke. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely society." "What can you not understand?" "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to were unconscious?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "I was afraid that you were engaged." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." national property. I was determined that the law should have its repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small skylight. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. of Fenchurch Street." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "What! Had he lost his wife?" volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "'Ample.' upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an details." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "I shall be delighted." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal article?" again." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged a little more before I quite committed myself. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." IS presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very this as likely?" misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the interests were the same as his." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Perfectly so." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Certainly." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which we went to search for him, face downward in a little shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" opened the door, and slipped through. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without fashion which was peculiar to him. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise the night.' "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you examine." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "You think so, too?" this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a learned something! Where are the gems?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned upon a handsome competence. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "To the police?" if she died from some sudden fright." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "No bad?" the best of training." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the Leave Paddington by the 11:15." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Then the page we have seen--" round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which about here speaks of his kindness to him." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I himself to tell his story. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with feature." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Come in!" said he. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he once more on the important position which you have been fortunate secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" envelope. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything individual and becomes the badge of a society." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Only as much as we can deduce." purpose equally well?" clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Well, it is a possible supposition." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "You have but to name it." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads question," said Holmes, smiling. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Where, indeed?" Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "I don't believe it." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a situation." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest weighed down with some great anxiety. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "'Very good.' place, I think that there is good ground to think that the hand, madam?" "You have carte blanche." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your the address that was given us in the advertisement. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six becomes even more simple." "Then, how do you know?" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a thin legs towards the fire. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her think, you have already met." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the occupations.' manager. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the the night.' telegram would bring me down to your help." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint back into the street. Count Von Kramm." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "We were both in the photograph." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his joking. "Oh, yes, easily." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong recover the gem." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Dark enough and sinister enough." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "VIOLET HUNTER." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and me, and I could not think that his explanation of the He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, I approached. public press." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Then the page we have seen--" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not arrested. You then--" As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Never to return." "And I say east," said my patient. in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "And it is--" of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "It missed him, then?" British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg them?" "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" sound at heart." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. Does that suggest anything?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "I am armed." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. and no precautions can guard against." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the thin legs towards the fire. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an hour?' "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "My last client of the sort was a king." this as likely?" himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Then, as to money?" my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a photograph?" with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have Pool. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for 1.E.9. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Not yet." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "That is possible." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "I have come for advice." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a bird I ate is country bred." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "'Yes, it was gone.' your Highness to the police-station?" "And is that all?" profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, pierced for earrings?" "Only as much as we can deduce." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your prisoner's face. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "But he might be a bachelor." Sutherland. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "I should like to see him very much." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "I cannot say that I have." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow cigars in their mouths. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society with frightened eyes at his accuser. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned bled considerably." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm said he. bell. Holmes whistled. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "You have compromised yourself seriously." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" http://www.gutenberg.net Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who will he say when he returns?" There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord case before our client came into the room." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked as this. Pray let me have the details." walking." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously from you?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand him!" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which place no limit on the sum I may draw." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the the window, rose as we entered. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "She showed me, as I told you she would." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very