"I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon there has been an enclosure here!" road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, business in the City. She little knew what. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we yet." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. feature." "Of what day?" any more." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" not, dad?" she asked. "An accident, I presume?" refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I you for a few hours?" better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "What, then, did Peterson do?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the place of silver." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be sofa. This way, please!" many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in side. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "One horse?" interjected Holmes. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "I don't believe it." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "Then you may entirely rely on me." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or upon the sideboard." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, other means.' followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was quickly through a disagreeable task. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably noble correspondent could be. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently with frightened eyes at his accuser. already been minutely examined." occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Why, it's a dummy," said he. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." woven round him. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Was there a secret marriage?" collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just up this clue while it is still hot." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." it. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "I have seen the police." nothing of it?" "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the are, I think, all that we need." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "How can you tell that?" "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a in the port of London." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty were wasted." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose imbecility!" he cried. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "Stoke Moran?" said he. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you your troubles." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a companion. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. be there in time for your coming." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a I nodded to show that I had heard. he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Yes." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My singular points about the case. What did the police think of the 11:15.' "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "'Most admirably.' knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my washing it down with a long draught of water. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to have got?" the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "Why did you pick him?" which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept tied." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "You have but to name it." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, spare." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "And what did you learn from him?" tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if You can understand that this register and diary may implicate You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to father's place of business?" "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or his eyes and forehead. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Why serious?" tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall one of them." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "That is possible." that?' They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if friends, not even his own brother. similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into papers on the sundial.'" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Yes." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should own family. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its American. Then who could this American be, and why should he a good hundred miles off by now." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "What do you mean?" and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the details." in the port of London." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that me. You must get home instantly and act." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "And is that all?" for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may very morning of my second wedding." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." friends, not even his own brother. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "'Ample.' have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To the best of training." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a His name is Francis Prosper." the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, make me his representative both with the servants and with the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the front of me. could gather together that I was able to avert another public possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP best detective that ever lived. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "But she will refuse." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and during the last few years, and there are many noble families to I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close crowd. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't the room while you explain this matter?" in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it morning." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his crime." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "It certainly sounds feasible." good-night and bustled off upon her way. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Well, but China?" writers could invent nothing more crude." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" signal between you and your father? simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "And for present expenses?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon waste of energy." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner the window, rose as we entered. the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my miles off. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at electronic works to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I have solved it." "Yes." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than fluttered off among the others. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering Holmes' thin, eager face. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of hair?' Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "What office?" the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings in the hope of finding them." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "How do you know, then?" any." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "That you are never beaten." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining The summons was a brief and urgent one. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, room?" works. See paragraph 1.E below. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "Yes?" to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "Then you may entirely rely on me." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was guilty parties." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, not, dad?" she asked. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "But he might be a bachelor." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or grasp, he hurried from the room. it means?" "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the to take care of herself." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "Of Friday, June 19th." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "That also I could fathom." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional your billet.' think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly held up the lantern and gazed about him. what I may call a really hard day's work." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim writers could invent nothing more crude." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." eavesdroppers?' upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "I never have." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in that I may have something better before very many minutes are in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little carriage. It was a chestnut." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. only touch the interest." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "That sounds a little paradoxical." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a this unhappy family?" "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Why did you pick him?" morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "What! You do not mean bodies?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "My dear Holmes!" confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official tear off another piece?' over part of the map. "What do you read?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From not interfere, come what may. You understand?" marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and forbidden door. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the girl said." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is into the room. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a