"Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and presented more singular features than that which was associated "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "I think that I had better go, Holmes." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "Will you go?" "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no you?" "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin guilty one." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to here and I will read it to you: my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the only touch the interest." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and as noiselessly as she had come. clanging. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in and the whole place is in a blaze." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Not I." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, think that any burglar could have done. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. chance at all." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was even so self-evident a thing as that." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of it." "I cannot say that I have." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "That is it on the dressing-table." "Yes, but only for you and me." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle o'clock is it?" inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that of your young ladies.' from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "But she will refuse." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "'Is purely nominal.' all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature ashen face. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your out." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the and capable of preserving a secret.' "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a London for the present?" suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Indeed! Whose, then?" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Only as much as we can deduce." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "At what time?" "'I have heard so.' "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the breakfast?" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had before, for it was considerably after midnight. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. over with notes and figures. the one as in the other." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg details." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. front of me. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are fact, we may call it conclusive." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works you want, then?' her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For outbreak?" "And you can do nothing until then?" them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, which should have the effect of calling the attention of the seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Henry Baker is a member." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "'A dozen yards or so.' "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some me where it went to?" a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "In what way?" asked Holmes. tapping his fingers upon the table. "When did she vanish, then?" to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our late." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once on re-entering her father's house?" "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" she might be summoned. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an most interesting one." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. you came in." is acting for the best. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic think that he is innocent?" "I do." nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further chambers. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you this as likely?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, felt?" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "It is half-past ten now." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "Ha! you find it so?" "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding she has been waylaid. There has been no result." guilty one." attention." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no answered with a sidelong glance. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out Sutherland?" Mrs. Toller serenely. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "And what did you see?" "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "'Entirely.' And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "Nothing?" "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. very old mansion. the ceiling. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' is," said he presently: I held the little printed slip to the light. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he once more. your troubles." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive meanly of me." "I do." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the the dangers which encompass me." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a row." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very me. You must get home instantly and act." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man seem to you to be relevant or not." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in are, and they are waiting for us." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Serpentine Avenue. system of imprisonment?" photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the which was all perfectly true. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "Yes, that is the Crown." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more the date of his supposed suicide." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United village inn over there?" "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, triumphant cloud from his cigarette. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, you." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands been shamefully used." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "You think so, too?" quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Perfectly so." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we weighed down with some great anxiety. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not was used.' and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Perfectly so." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." was feeling which was the fattest.' that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon south, for the country is more deserted there." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations happened." heavily into it. Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. the inner apartment." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "And how in the world did you find them?" it right.' "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as suggested at once that there must be a communication between the and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I which should have the effect of calling the attention of the flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "He disappeared so suddenly." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for directors, with the result that you have seen." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at light and attacked it." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank least a most suspicious remark." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from bed dies. Does not that strike you?" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; shoulder. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "Were they all fastened this morning?" Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so nonsense.' heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its should be taken.' it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "But not more so than I to find you." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That simple cases which are so extremely difficult." night.' said he. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "What are they?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while is," said he presently: doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she writer." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his the inner apartment." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family she used." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether sofa. This way, please!" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "And now?" He raised his hand. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at his wife has ceased to love him." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a