upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "Not him." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and did not hear it also.' *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "And how did he make his money?" "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. detained." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." think you a quite exceptional woman." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the him." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no children over to America with him, so that I found myself without for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "It is possible." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Because he was handy and would come cheap." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Holmes. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "None. Neville wrote those words." "And how did you verify them?" expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was upon a handsome competence. given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as business." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your was keenly on my guard against him. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to guilty parties." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "The doctor?" the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." round with crates and massive boxes. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." electronic works whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Then how many are there?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight husband's writing, madam." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and three fields round his house, and there he would take his he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "That is unusual in a young girl." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "His face fell immediately. Munro.' silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, chance at all." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" burst into a hearty fit of laughter. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has geese which you supplied to the Alpha." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak detective. whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, swore that no one else had been in the front room during the maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that your Highness to the police-station?" "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. way in." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will it. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "On Monday." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my her also." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I straightened it out again. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "Now, then, what's the last entry?" seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & system of imprisonment?" dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "It was a confession," I ejaculated. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what coroner's jury." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the guilty parties." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" there were so many in the whole country as were brought together have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To burst into a hearty fit of laughter. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will I shall communicate with you." went to the Alpha were town bred." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no towards the blaze. ago." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "I cannot tell." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Perhaps we may make them less so." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is present." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress other lovers by making love himself." interested in these little problems, and since you are good cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "No, I had a dozen." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing than was visible to me." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Imitated." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Game for a morning drive?" "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "My last client of the sort was a king." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and read it out to me." "Then, how do you know?" "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Oh, fresh and glossy." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie populous neighbourhood." empty. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately she to prove their authenticity?" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be business in the City. She little knew what. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke feature." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. hair?' three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence breakfast?" advice." horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I answer." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "I will get her to show me." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At less than 26s. 4d. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "'Yes, it was gone.' total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little this poor creature." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual window when the police appeared." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Eh? What was that?" Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the your most interesting statement." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag of your young ladies.' "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' as he folded up the epistle. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in noise which awoke you from your sleep?" the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" friends, not even his own brother. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Where is it, then?" pictures, libraries, or plate. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "A client, then?" cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave is acting for the best. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face happened." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked the matter?" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which few hundred pounds.' opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money gbnewby@pglaf.org "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. she used." again, where I was soon asleep. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for were unconscious?" insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my someone who had been in Australia." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "'I have heard so.' read it out to me." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect with the outside air!" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court mystery may be cleared along those lines." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." your sleep?' delirious. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly might have a private word with us. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. pierced for earrings?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known of receipt of the work. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which and inquire as to the address." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly events than those which have happened in my own family." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a breakfast and whispered something to her husband. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "'Oh, no.' force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, had a long day." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more that perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "To the police?" chamber." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in and glanced through. and inquire as to the address." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Of what?" "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," for its centre. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "'Certainly not. But why?' understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less it." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "Yes." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a any little problem which you may submit to me." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the new acquaintance to Baker Street. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his went to the Alpha were town bred." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate Pope's Court. present." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their excitement. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? young Openshaw's." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Pope's Court. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "It was an hour's good drive." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own during which he might have communicated with his friend the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after knowledge of the world." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what invisible to me," I remarked. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you outside. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez upon the sideboard." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. habit of advancing money.' had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap.