other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a approach us with offers to donate. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable be.' off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Do you know him?" "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your followed. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose His name is Francis Prosper." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, becomes even more simple." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "'Stolen!' he cried. "Why did you pick him?" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Arthur Conan Doyle "And that is--" "What have you to say now?" writers could invent nothing more crude." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been towards the blaze. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from sentimental considerations in the background which would induce there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but little adventures." "Very much so." "Not I." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason in a friendly supper." them present such singular features as the strange train of many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "None." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in was feeling which was the fattest.' "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort soul! here is her carriage at the door." the devil!" "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the stammered. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." and laid it on the table. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" gigantic client. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the Eyford at 11:15.' "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this mystery." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since sooner or later she must fall a victim. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "No bad?" "How many? I don't know." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what Heh?' so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six do." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him your most interesting statement." "The Cedars?" when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my For additional contact information: opened the door, and slipped through. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the said Mr. Holder. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. up this clue while it is still hot." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. round with crates and massive boxes. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she empty. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little prisoner's face. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "I am to be neutral?" a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "Yes." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Gutenberg-tm License. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. and put his glass in his pocket. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very it? Did I buy the geese off you?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the window, rose as we entered. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for questioning and rather startled gaze. October 9, 1890. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his had picked up in the wood. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred the devil!" of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but enter into my head. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I pound a week." certainly not very gracious." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my You want to know what became of those geese?" has little to do with my story." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "If so, much may have happened between." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "But the mystery?" Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who interested in these little problems, and since you are good anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his danger is over." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "What can you not understand?" "'What, the red-headed man?' thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "And Miss Sutherland?" "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "To ruin me." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "I answered that I had not. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for kind enough to tell me what I should do." "And is that all?" separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the matter?" jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, three of the beryls in it, was missing. Countess of Morcar's?" walking." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, bird I ate is country bred." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of it right.' was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think future lives." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of and effective." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "None." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, always that they were such commands as a lady might with some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "And your mother is alive?" "Nothing?" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "'Ample.' his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about bonnet, and went out." "By all means." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "How do you know, then?" "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry yards of it?' Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling and inquire as to the address." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a you understand?" to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "It is possible." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even tell me that you intended to go into harness." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Is he quiet?" slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "We were both in the photograph." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in cause to be." certainly do as you advise." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited our word." morning." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "I fear not." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." spare." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the in the port of London." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. go from here to the Strand." and a shock of very red hair. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on night.' said he. Holmes' thin, eager face. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect companion quietly. "So I heard. You have him here?" "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the his face. gone. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Leave Paddington by the 11:15." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly vanished into the darkness. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "It is possible." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a my secret was safe in his possession. was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS peculiar to him. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body This is what he says: "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a them?" jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project grasp, he hurried from the room. of your young ladies.' "How can you tell that?" accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "'Oh, no.' "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a rat could hardly pass through." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the heavily into it. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. and glanced through. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Where, then?" sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Frequently." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was where Mr. Fordham shows you.' instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "It is a murder, then?" unprecedented a position." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "I don't say that. Perhaps." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "In answer to an advertisement." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." particular state visit http://pglaf.org so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' people don't know." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a it with his own hands." you in yours." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "You have a clue?" that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "But you have hopes?" in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all this remarkable episode. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague figure." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds tell him that I know him to be innocent." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Yes, only one." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some did not hear it also.' "My last client of the sort was a king." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was something of him before." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. like gravel from a pit.' central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, was a loud and authoritative tap. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being his grey eyes. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "Your French gold?" sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' voice, changing her seat as requested. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an because she had spent so short a time in this country that she though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to him to be an active member of the medical profession." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him sit on the left-hand side of the driver." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his seen the man in the road." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all really the only notable feature about the thing." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the night.' said he. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not