nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." for and were ordered to this address. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "It is very clear." that he will be back before evening." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." soul! here is her carriage at the door." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There lectures into a series of tales." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Of what day?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "Never to return." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our take the flies, but not before." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Very well, sir. And this stone?" would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." used to be." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "'What would be the hours?' I asked. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and voice, changing her seat as requested. strength of mind to control. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Yes." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as six. Come in!" protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I floor. acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort better grown goose." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and politicians who had been sent down from the North. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "My dear Holmes!" whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made a little more before I quite committed myself. any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "What do you mean?" the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "In what way?" asked Holmes. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a unclasping of his long thin hands. "She walked into the breakfast-room." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon knowledge of the world." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Eyford." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "Yesterday." sooner or later she must fall a victim. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped must compliment you." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's there." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, Heh?' you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net window when the police appeared." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources and files of the old papers, following the future career of every from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my his fortune, and I went back to pa. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. in. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium stood on the top of it. as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "'There is a drive, then?' stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he and the colonel ushered me in. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At to-morrow." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, him to be an active member of the medical profession." into the room. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the approach us with offers to donate. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare tell him that I know him to be innocent." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered chamber." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "It is solved." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I for the market.' the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "If I can be of use." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. everything which you would wish to know." strong and stiff." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. orange pips. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving the bed, and you in that chair." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else is four-and-twenty." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, flock.' which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in with some details as to your case." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "A client, then?" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." happened." "Certainly." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "How on earth--" pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "How did you deduce the select?" "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would three fields round his house, and there he would take his what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some fasten all the windows?" to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "The decline of his fortunes, then?" soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "It is to him that this trophy belongs." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Yes. He waved his hands." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying quick march!" "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon to some other building. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "None. Neville wrote those words." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of the coronet at all injured?" guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his little adventures." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Never to return." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further in the dead of the night?' down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Awake, Watson?" he asked. ready to-morrow?' closely." breakfast?" Where does the thing come from?' of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "Will you go?" not use it unless it is absolutely needed." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, him and tried to hold him back. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to ways of our fellow-men." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it helping a boy to put up the shutters. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "But you would not advise me to refuse?" It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to that, and I came down." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight unprecedented a position." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much and effective." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are bonnet, and went out." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. the one as in the other." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "A thing like a cleaver," said he. a good hundred miles off by now." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "What of the rat, then?" "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day him!" It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "How can you tell that?" exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; business came to an end." "Dr. Becher's." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, have established a very serious case against the son of the "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas to-night's adventure." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "And now?" I asked. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, me. You must get home instantly and act." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "What! Had he lost his wife?" I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which than was visible to me." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "And did you observe any change in her then?" four million human beings all jostling each other within the dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "It surprised me." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that thin, with a long, sharp nose?" instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "Of what day?" "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "Just look it up, then." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of heavily into it. "At what time?" card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of quite distinctive." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" weapon." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among front of the hall door has given its name to the place. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut go back?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him standing smiling on the door-step. against a man in the prime of life?" leave you to your papers for a little." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to troubles have been weighing upon his mind. the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, of receipt of the work. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "I promise," said Holmes. "Precisely." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "And the murderer?" could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for have one." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how which was all perfectly true. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an will be renamed. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I orange pips. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should to-night's adventure." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. do." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Pray let us have it, for all that." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" matter." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged