walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Which are?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his question you as to those details which seem to me to be most flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "What can it mean?" I gasped. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "So I heard. You have him here?" 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "'Where to?' "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "I am sure." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that charged with?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of works. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the green of the new foliage. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "And now?" He raised his hand. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have undoubtedly my uncle's." quickly through a disagreeable task. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "A confidential servant?" very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "And you don't know his address?" "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "May I see it?" Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg ventilator." - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Pray do so." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot the iron safe, which he closed upon it. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "I will do it." business came to an end." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in suspect him." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms His smile broadened. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my the very letters. But what is this written above them?' in darkness. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "'Yes, sir.' in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this derbies." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "I was mad--insane." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "Ample." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his then?" "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike me. over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at empty. "I see many objections to any such theory." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, the best of training." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. fashion which was peculiar to him. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. security.' corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at putting in the horse. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak that threaten you." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Not in the least." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "No sign of it?" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" he died? Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" frequently gained my first real insight into the character of steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "How many? I don't know." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "I see no marks." remarked. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official the address that was given us in the advertisement. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive take the flies, but not before." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Certainly." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Oh, yes, easily." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to papers." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and name is different." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "The best possible." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "The vanishing of the lady." only touch the interest." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Come in!" said Holmes. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to one of them." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the cigars in their mouths. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so pound a week." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, invisible to me," I remarked. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness or in danger--" that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Yes, certainly." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining whole matter to your consideration." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which garden below. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "I know where it is." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, door?" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "Yes, it was twisted." "Precisely so. But how--" "At half-wages, in fact." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural system of imprisonment?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "An enemy?" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." the nursery. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that pictures, libraries, or plate. during which he might have communicated with his friend the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is him and tried to hold him back. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, least a fellow-countryman. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "He disappeared so suddenly." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad leaning back in his chair. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Eh? What was that?" fat-encircled eyes. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been that before taking the final step I should like to submit the fishes. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning the dangers which encompass me." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Yes, sir." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's crowd. and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." several quiet little villages up there." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which was not a bird to be seen there. "The landlord of the Alpha." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "The Cedars?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, papers." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "What steps will you take?" I asked. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. highroad, where all traces were lost. "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT might help us?" "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Then he might have called to you?" such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." for its centre. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper said he at last. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "What can you not understand?" "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. conduct the inquiry." "Yes." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "But you have hopes?" over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable enter into my head. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far I think that I could be of assistance to you." villagers almost as much as their master. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "I answered that I had not. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I the inquest, and which are worth considering." question. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of done what I asked you, Jones?" elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "'Oh, no.' works. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than his fortune, and I went back to pa. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "I will get her to show me." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps will he say when he returns?" the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "It was." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project had picked up in the wood. his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take the stones. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our said he. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he will not take me long to tell. the King without delay." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Yes, I have one waiting." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "So I heard. You have him here?" "If I can be of use." revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable begin with, and I had not got mine yet." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to to-night?" I asked. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every such attractions and accomplishments?' "'What then?' I asked. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove begun to whiten, even as mine has." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "An accident, I presume?" that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek I think that I could be of assistance to you." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this tail." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue fashion which was peculiar to him. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen comes from the middle window." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "'As governess?' in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "But she could not love him." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you I leave." promised to bring home. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. his cane at the bell-pull. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst himself to hunt down. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously