and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I yourselves in at night?" "Certainly." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little few hundred pounds.' the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a it right.' a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot appeared upon the scene." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate You want to know what became of those geese?" from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "'I shall certainly be there.' will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a without success. At last the little money which I had saved began exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, have had none more fantastic than this." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "I should like to see him very much." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, the general public were present, then?" rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he Pope's Court, Fleet Street." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was I shall communicate with you." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "I know where it is." surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "How about poison?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." to-night?" I asked. "And how in the world did you find them?" "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said and effective." or in danger--" out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told and the whole place is in a blaze." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "9th. McCauley cleared. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me pound a week." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "It's nothing of the kind." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they you understand?" such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Thank you. And your address?" swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "You heard nothing yourself last night?" prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "I think it very unlikely." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend from you?" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." reach." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "My photograph." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. here." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the like that before?" hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "It is possible." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no have an American origin." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should wedding?" that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of pound a week." than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' father's place of business?" humiliation." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), ventilator." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "'What, the red-headed man?' the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Get out!" said he. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Pray continue your narrative." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action me. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no second window is the one that I jumped from." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." you." "He said that you could solve anything." charged with?" Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my system of imprisonment?" SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. was a loud and authoritative tap. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and in. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "I will not look." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "I am following you closely," I answered. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "And what did you learn from him?" my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." room had already been engaged for us. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of union?" his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "And you thought he was pulled back?" shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "I think that I had better go, Holmes." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was the window, rose as we entered. tension within him. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "'Where could I find him?' the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon troubles have been weighing upon his mind. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern she slowly sank and died without having recovered her stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means cigar and let me expound." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "What, then, did Peterson do?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was sneer upon his pale face. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a Munro.' society." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Seven!" I answered. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' his face. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps the stable lane now." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I south, for the country is more deserted there." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch helping a boy to put up the shutters. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" signal between you and your father? Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Have you it here?" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. that, and I came down." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "No, finished." cheerful." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been had died away into the silence from which it rose. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "The knees of his trousers." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Never." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the at once, for I have only half an hour." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered were unconscious?" ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, goes." in his power. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Yes, it would be as well." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "I see many objections to any such theory." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an closing the door. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "No." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Who was the criminal, then?" "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." always that they were such commands as a lady might with drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "They are typewritten," I remarked. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, present strange and interesting features that it is no easy though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "In heaven's name, what for?" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you copied or distributed: "He might." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then I nodded to show that I had heard. been deceived." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "You saw the ventilator, too?" London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a gives a meaning to it." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "My photograph." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in London for the present?" merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. have an American origin." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal unprecedented a position." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies you?" Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I most interesting one." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely of." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Holmes rather sternly. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "You forget that I know nothing about it." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three this poor creature." know all about it," he snarled. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform how narrow had been my escape. "But it has twice been burgled." "'What then?' I asked. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "And why?" Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. certainly not very gracious." "An enemy?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire astonishment. results." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was it with his own hands." tension within him. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front to talk it over. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my investigation." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "'Certainly,' I answered. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers noting anything else of interest. the room while you explain this matter?" down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't knowledge of the world." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the in his power. him. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His said he. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have assist you in forming an opinion." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, breakfast?" possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." when your master had gone out." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is go from here to the Strand." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "He said that you could solve anything." and that he would see to anything that turned up. future lives." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul which our visitor detailed to us. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have words came to my lips. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the some city in a dream. placed his cuttings. woman." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Pray let us have it, for all that." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "What! Had he lost his wife?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the