"'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "But not more so than I to find you." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "I say it is." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "What shall I do?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of just called myself is not exactly my own." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than where she found matters as described by the last witness. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "But how could you guess what the motive was?" to tell." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped to some other building. "But how will you look?" relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door hopeless attempt at recovering them." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so skylight. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he door?" filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father is worth.' "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for papers must be those that are destroyed.' vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of completely overtopped every other consideration that we both drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "You horrify me!" from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "'I shall certainly be there.' what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the room while you explain this matter?" his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is visitors." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each make me his representative both with the servants and with the it." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do is so. I know all about McCarthy." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Frequently." "It is a murder, then?" My friend smiled. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, results." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "My opinion is in no way altered." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "'About the same.' written. to his chemical studies. enter into my head. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang coat-tails." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in right! Sit down and let us talk it over." leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is it." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Miss Holder?" bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and formed some opinion?" the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project of fine shops and stately business premises that they really the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "No, I think that I'll take it." questioning and rather startled gaze. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "'I have heard so.' six. Come in!" "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the residence of the great financier. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "But how will you look?" side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted him, that man would not have given me such complete information shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and in a friendly supper." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with just ask you whether you had heard it.' upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect there is a decided draught." "Not in a good cause." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "Her father is very rich?" light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? foresight and the moral retrogression?" have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "But she could not love him." written, and locked the door of the office after me. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "And you don't know his address?" Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope think you a quite exceptional woman." "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "I think it very unlikely." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "I cannot tell." "I will, Miss Turner." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "And how in the world did you find them?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, detained." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "And now?" I asked. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend something of him before." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive all-comprehensive glances. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, most important business. It is probable that he will be away all handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled chance at all." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "At what time?" position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may papers." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal the date of his supposed suicide." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "None." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Which surely he restored to their owner?" nonsense.' I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "Ample." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "And I say east," said my patient. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight child?' presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. asked. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was he. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm Serpentine Avenue. child?' "It may not come to that," said Holmes. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work bonnet, and went out." "To an end?" one of them." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "What are they?" simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Then what has happened to him?" utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Yes, there are nearly always some there." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him orange pips. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By keep the flames under. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely up this clue while it is still hot." must compliment you." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very back into the street. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several neither fascinating nor artistic." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' you?" that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" lost his Christmas dinner." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "'Where to?' He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of characteristics, but those are the more obvious." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family and files of the old papers, following the future career of every and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and to have been novel and of interest." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over were new raised from a basin. constraint." father's young wife. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "I fear not." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "If I can be of use." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that invisible to me," I remarked. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "'Certainly not. But why?' to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by outside." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger row." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." see me here to avoid scandal." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be Sutherland. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been attention." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Was your sister dressed?" "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "And now?" I asked. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had passage and a tap at the door. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this telegram would bring me down to your help." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the desk. "She showed me, as I told you she would." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "'Ample.' "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' orange pips. spark where all is dark to me." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She felt?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. was feeling which was the fattest.' There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to foot. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "That is easily got." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Not yet." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, gone. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from and inquire as to the address." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free but preventing her from injuring another. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. them?" way: three fields round his house, and there he would take his husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Will you go?" located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Countess of Morcar's?" fat-encircled eyes. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord must be when I saw the door open.' Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady searched, without anything being found which could incriminate the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "So it appears." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Do you receive much company?" he asked. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Was he the only applicant?" "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to business came to an end." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until done what I asked you, Jones?" hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the direction." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "I am in hopes that she does." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about have established a very serious case against the son of the "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "In San Francisco, a year ago."