the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "No good news?" "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man absorbing." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Entirely." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Ha! you find it so?" "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of papers diligently of late, have you not?" shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was fait accompli?" "Pray let us have it, for all that." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, late!' flock.' "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Certainly." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase indeed which he could not unravel. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable troubles have been weighing upon his mind. that you wished to speak to me?' years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "I am in hopes that she does." "It came here." breakfast?" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "I have come for advice." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him my secret was safe in his possession. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking one else, I think." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he attention." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "She walked into the breakfast-room." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." Henry Baker is a member." place of silver." his grey eyes. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in only touch the interest." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Certainly." my secret was safe in his possession. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' to affect your life." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "A thing like a cleaver," said he. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson delighted to hear it," he said. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Well, it is a possible supposition." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social jewels which you have stolen?' spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this gives a meaning to it." little adventures." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from appointment with me for six o'clock?" Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into least a fellow-countryman. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "'What do you call purely nominal?' the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, down from London to inquire more deeply into it." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What certainly not very gracious." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Quite so. She has her freedom." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "'Never.' overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran unkempt, staring out at me. maid will bring up your coffee." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' fatally injured? outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, a good hundred miles off by now." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such acted in my house last night?" "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "No." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are McCarthy." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when States. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his confronted him. be. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. relief. way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "I will do it." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "Yes, sir." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, to you." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "To ruin me." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My his forehead." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you acted in my house last night?" in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking matter over." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel felt the room to be a little close.' "And for present expenses?" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and deduce something from that?" with her." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he voice, changing her seat as requested. hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and the roots. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have mysterious business." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, hardly wander." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "What then?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found strode off upon his way. bled considerably." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a had died away into the silence from which it rose. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "It is very kind of you." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of was already answered. cheerful." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: writing, and yet I know it well." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in business?" homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in there when the Rucastles went away." just ask you whether you had heard it.' This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. in the hope of finding them." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the married her." "'Yes, I promise.' with you?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be may never be exposed to such a temptation." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. there in twenty minutes." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "'What would be the hours?' I asked. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "If so, much may have happened between." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "The landlord of the Alpha." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. his fortune, and I went back to pa. chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "Have you her photograph?" you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the future lives." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated see a sister of mine apply for." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? of Mr. Rucastle's." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on to you." Stoke Moran." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "No good news?" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing situation." "Very murderous indeed." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty what do you think they found in the pockets?" "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not conduct the inquiry." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous His smile broadened. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a brandy and water within his reach. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free in the port of London." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the hurried by. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as my room." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior careless servant girl?" upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them read it out to me." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I like that before?" nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "'There is a drive, then?' order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our papers on the sundial.'" "I am still in the dark." arrested. You then--" exactly what you advise." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed breakfast?" "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in than was visible to me." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all drawing your inferences." said I. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, it? Did I buy the geese off you?" slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "An enemy?" "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Sutherland?" quickly through a disagreeable task. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "You have it, sir, just as it happened." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the she used." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' bears upon the case?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "Could he throw no light?" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the taking in every detail of the apartment. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." must be when I saw the door open.' used to be." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to was a lad." examine." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, hand, madam?" his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his colonel looking down at me. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I hour?' The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position could not have written that. It is the German who is so I nodded again. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of beyond words. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to other means.' observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, call it cruel." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "Proceed, then." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I most important business. It is probable that he will be away all Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Yes, sir." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. any little problem which you may submit to me." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "You horrify me!" horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Precisely so. But how--" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have noting anything else of interest. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "I guessed as much." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in criminal. We have already had experience of such." his face which made him a very different person to the round, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of examination of the premises, but without finding anything which doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way tapping his fingers upon the table. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss