Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." I held the little printed slip to the light. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and third from London." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Well, it is a possible supposition." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still go back?" the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "What is it?" did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith it with his own hands." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey if only as a check to my own memory." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the of this gang." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is you for a few hours?" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their tightly behind him. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was ordinary clothes on?" "Why did you pick him?" "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Stolen, then." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my not personally threatened." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to character. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no bed dies. Does not that strike you?" the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "'Is 4 pounds a week.' bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is to talk it over. "At what time?" turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my simple cases which are so extremely difficult." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and of the vacancies.' what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a may have an influence upon European history." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "'Certainly not.' not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Yes, I have one waiting." are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. newspaper selections." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "'I have already given you my word.' "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" remarked. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "That sounds a little paradoxical." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose him!" "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you made him keep the appointment." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my cost them two and thirty pounds." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment *** START: FULL LICENSE *** at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography have been better. It is all right." seven miles from Eyford Station.' "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "And it is--" of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Did you observe the colour?" the bottom.' "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take that threaten you." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard had died away into the silence from which it rose. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "No bad?" long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "None." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' room?" animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a helping a boy to put up the shutters. she to prove their authenticity?" could go. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with of a light. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two of this gang." ready to-morrow?' left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Yes, I have one waiting." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in presented more singular features than that which was associated in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "And your mother is alive?" shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here keep the flames under. happened." mysterious end." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "And from a noble client?" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Entirely." was a loud and authoritative tap. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Absolutely none." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though the warnings." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, little trying to do so much typewriting?" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. was a loud and authoritative tap. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. upon the white wrist. delighted to hear it," he said. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others leave you to your papers for a little." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be distinguish the words: ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "'Ample.' better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. advice." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "What then?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, papers." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad call it cruel." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "It is very clear." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the investigation." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "'Yes, it was gone.' "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became Munro.' "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the the bottom.' breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the papers." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a that I am arrested." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your deduce something from that?" "Was she in good spirits?" "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "And Miss Sutherland?" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the go from here to the Strand." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: and inquire as to the address." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that me upon any point which I do not make clear." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Precisely." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: like that before?" screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening his fortune, and I went back to pa. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened horse could go." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Certainly, madam." me what he had done with the three missing stones. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Seven!" I answered. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "'And what salary do you ask?' into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "And how in the world did you find them?" hardly wander." been shamefully used." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on into her hand at the door and which lured her within their on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "'And the work?' springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly will be renamed. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Was the window open?" papers diligently of late, have you not?" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you her also." thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a papers on the sundial.'" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but appeal." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "A greater distance to travel." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "Your French gold?" to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this people in all walks of life. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is him. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. to his chemical studies. "No." me where it went to?" in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and was lame." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of persecution?" he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the signal between you and your father? "Can I be of assistance?" to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of the loss of it. the general public were present, then?" There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" perplexity from it to my illustrious client. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Whose house is it?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a interest. They are important, you understand, without being sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I directors have had misgivings upon the subject." occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect hands. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "No, distinctly professional." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "What will you say?" which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My Street. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. had this final quarrel? honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged noble correspondent could be. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered evidence," I remarked. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your lamp. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows wall." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that man. I know him from the photograph." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "That is not always so easy." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Upon what point?" building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. status with the IRS. pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at upon the shelf for the interim." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he could not account in any way for the presence of the missing telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Of what?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and figure." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the papers diligently of late, have you not?" the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "And help." green of the new foliage. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Why serious?" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding whole matter to your consideration." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! will not take me long to tell. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a me where it went to?" few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a father's young wife. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good get her out of the way." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, him!" "Did you observe the colour?" shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like it right.' empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. joking. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "You will not go there first?" call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "But how did you gain them?" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. compunction about shooting them down." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," tied." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your make me his representative both with the servants and with the visitors." gives a meaning to it." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack.