"What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Certainly." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by business came to an end." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned gigantic client. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our never to learn it at all." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings was the fact that his father should, according to his account, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all rooms." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we became a certainty. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran Foundation destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora papers." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled Doctor, of the paper and the date." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use giving me time to thank him. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a gives a meaning to it." there has been an enclosure here!" the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "What of the rat, then?" "'Where to?' in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the business." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "Yes." yourselves in at night?" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for one else, I think." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being are, and they are waiting for us." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been The telegram which we eventually received came late one night to where he stood hid behind the curtain. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the will take you up to see the machine.' went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "'As governess?' from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built and have this put in the evening papers." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he few hundred pounds.' been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at States. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Then how many are there?" the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "It is possible." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can happened." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the colonel looking down at me. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to stepfather?" prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my the tragedy. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "Pray tell us what has happened to you." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, four million human beings all jostling each other within the chambers. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. stalked out of the room. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his I shall communicate with you." which it had come upon my father." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "What!" he roared. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" more terrible than the truth. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the back alive. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the my special province." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of it." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout sound at heart." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, outside." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this 'I should be able to look after that for you.' me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it redistribution. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project to-night." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. This is what he says: out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of feature." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "An enemy?" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even the window, rose as we entered. advice." electronic works "Never." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have Holmes' thin, eager face. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." roused himself from his reverie. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking awkward doing business with an alias." opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Very. But will he see it?" that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the the devil!" smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." Countess of Morcar's?" quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of enough to aid us in our search." "This concluded the examination of the witness." through." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my man. voice. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and to affect your life." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." the morning and make my own way in the world.' "That is also quite modern," said the lady. miles off. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone them, and came down just as you departed. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Oh, the cause is excellent!" case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my views." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit him, that man would not have given me such complete information London for the present?" retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "I will do it." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the awaited us upon the table. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close indeed happy." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study what is your own theory as to what took place?" events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the done what I asked you, Jones?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the soul! here is her carriage at the door." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because present strange and interesting features that it is no easy plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The the coronet at all injured?" "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Yes, the wine-cellar." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly may never be exposed to such a temptation." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his young Openshaw's." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "She will not sell." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A did not hear it also.' The King stared at him in amazement. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one nonsense.' ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "And you can do nothing until then?" blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "'Certainly not. But why?' corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Yes." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your is worth.' cigars in the box." night.' said he. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. lips." my former friend and companion. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Precisely." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is asked. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought humiliation." not come at once?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's the date of his supposed suicide." dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, the night.' I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "Thank you. And your address?" of the vacancies.' his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." get the tickets." to a more successful conclusion." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in know what is wrong with it.' reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie at my remark. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. go from here to the Strand." annoyance, but no jest. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, success. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air could gather together that I was able to avert another public lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "It was." in one or two places in England?' glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of unclasping of his long thin hands. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian have an American origin." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled burst out into a roar of laughter. from you?" I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice,