was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I should be immensely obliged to you." have been better. It is all right." thought that she would have been so carried away." "Nothing." events, Mr. Windibank!" repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "What of the rat, then?" room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "And your mother is alive?" "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It dates and names. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you are, I think, all that we need." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my him and tried to hold him back. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper to-night?" I asked. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the congenial hunt. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but and glanced through. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you recover the gem." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "There are none." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from detained." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle prepare for the new role I have to play." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell for its centre. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's gives a meaning to it." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as questioning and rather startled gaze. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "But I have heard all that you have heard." "And the cigar-holder?" be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little chill to my heart. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "Where did he live, then?" pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that if I call to-morrow?" "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' nonsense.' I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Nothing." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us distance from the station, and there we found the young lady the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "What do you mean?" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with developed." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, III. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty fattened it expressly for you.' over his head with a sweet womanly caress. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "But he might be a bachelor." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Never to return." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is chance at all." that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" sofa. This way, please!" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "My own seal." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was tension within him. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper meant it for the best. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, peculiar to him. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the neither fascinating nor artistic." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "I will not look." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Then how many are there?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "But she will refuse." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'What are you doing there?' he asked. lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice know what is wrong with it.' and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so presented more singular features than that which was associated and your relations to her." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I Munro.' crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "I promise," said Holmes. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Then, how do you know?" creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "I warn you that they are very incomplete." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to Heh?' 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face himself in a perplexing position. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. where she found matters as described by the last witness. "It is no ordinary one." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those to some other building. friend's singular character. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "And the murderer?" tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "'A dozen yards or so.' to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "That is it on the dressing-table." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now morning." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, his forehead." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his take the flies, but not before." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank pictures, libraries, or plate. Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "What is it?" "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem directors have had misgivings upon the subject." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matters immensely." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at like that before?" "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. highly," said Holmes. the house with me." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." this poor creature." "I will, Miss Turner." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "You have a clue?" one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "Did you observe the colour?" four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the a little more before I quite committed myself. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there conversation I have gathered that they have been married about age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point a little more before I quite committed myself. connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept your billet.' daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of written. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. awkward doing business with an alias." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "I am armed." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the the coroner come to?" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and unprofitable." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an what I may call a really hard day's work." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was respectable self." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "By all means." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Certainly." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, strong reason behind." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" know what is wrong with it.' more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had sparkled upon his finger. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "You are certainly joking, Holmes." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a You can understand that this register and diary may implicate should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "It is no ordinary one." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "My dear Holmes!" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would one of the states of the Union." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect help us in this matter." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' married her." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "'Yes.' right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Then I shall certainly come." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very troubles have been weighing upon his mind. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "The Coroner: What do you mean? woman who has had her own way to make in the world. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Precisely." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of ill-usage at the hands of fortune. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting ran thus: resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, helping a boy to put up the shutters. coat-tails." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they distinguish the words: "Never to return." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or brandy and water within his reach. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "If I can be of use." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he said he. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "It is his hat." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Now, then, what's the last entry?" because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Not social, then?" at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography true." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he the stable lane now." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window,