everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "But it has twice been burgled." than to us. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. off." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Then you may be so with me." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood legal crime." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of words came to my lips. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Precisely." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and any more." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our helping a boy to put up the shutters. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I allusion to a rat. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, there in twenty minutes." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and straighten it?" "'Which dealer's?' tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "Then I do not see the point." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Stoke Moran." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding even so self-evident a thing as that." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "But we can't all be." take the flies, but not before." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general we went to search for him, face downward in a little "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "I see many objections to any such theory." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "There is the writing." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with acted in my house last night?" for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "I never have." is acting for the best. "Here?" peculiar to him. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. problems help me to do so." "Entirely." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly dates and names. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock colour had been driven from his face. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case depend upon your compliance." "'Which dealer's?' on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates enough to aid us in our search." despaired of." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "I saw her in conversation with her maid." upon the sideboard." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "You have carte blanche." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "And now?" I asked. "You have carte blanche." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in is four-and-twenty." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. the bottom.' unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy most interesting one." his knees, staring into the fire. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she house for five minutes.' not as remarkable as your advertisement." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the derbies." goes." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a Sutherland. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Yes, all." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "He is dead," cried several voices. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' you in yours." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. hardly wander." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as back into the street. will be renamed. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is long narrative. little trying to do so much typewriting?" "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' singular points about the case. What did the police think of the nothing of it?" and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is disappearance of these gems?" anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "What office?" "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "The knees of his trousers." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Holmes' face clouded over. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged round with crates and massive boxes. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "By train from Waterloo." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Your French gold?" wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Certainly." "You have the photograph?" I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less Countess of Morcar's?" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of which should have the effect of calling the attention of the There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon Stoke Moran." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "He said too much." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an think, you have already met." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "'Certainly,' I answered. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "How about poison?" "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a kind enough to tell me what I should do." "He is dead," cried several voices. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, bird I ate is country bred." that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "You think so, too?" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "You will not go there first?" cigars in their mouths. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "And now?" He raised his hand. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Nearly eleven." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Only as much as we can deduce." disturbance in my wife." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting may never be exposed to such a temptation." "Did he not advertise?" "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "And the cigar-holder?" she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest meant." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a carriage. It was a chestnut." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a breakfast and whispered something to her husband. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned some city in a dream. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, your most interesting statement." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and gigantic client. and that he would see to anything that turned up. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and events, Mr. Windibank!" hurried by. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Yes, the wine-cellar." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his but preventing her from injuring another. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of events than those which have happened in my own family." conclusions. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "I should be immensely obliged to you." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be upon the sideboard." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned really the only notable feature about the thing." can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Not particularly." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both 'please.'" specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. question," said Holmes, smiling. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Then he might have called to you?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this back alive. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "How can you tell that?" there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Nor running a chance of arrest?" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when night.' said he. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Quite so. She has her freedom." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "She walked into the breakfast-room." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at even so self-evident a thing as that." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "What then?" residence of the great financier. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Why, it's a dummy," said he. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Very. But will he see it?" indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, done what I asked you, Jones?" strong and stiff." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Yes." to talk it over. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in been anything against him. He had for years been known as a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. of his shoulders. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought some terrible trap for her." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that Holmes rather sternly. "But how?" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man nights." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "Yes, it would be as well." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was eavesdroppers?' "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers even of instruction." keep the flames under. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" Lee, in the county of Kent." written. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the deduce something from that?" of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the detective. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "'Quite sure, dad.' "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "It is no ordinary one." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the room?" "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I the very letters. But what is this written above them?' done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no the so-precious time, but come!' "Yes." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat lips." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there 'I should be able to look after that for you.' morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took wedding?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and stalked out of the room. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "It was an hour's good drive." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his outsides of the windows. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "What, then?" girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "That is not always so easy." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in married her." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way question. and no precautions can guard against." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been means taking possession of that which another person has a prior know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of giving me time to thank him. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" yourselves in at night?" tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, money should be paid at once.' His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "Oh, yes, easily." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "At half-wages, in fact." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and signal between you and your father? It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, like gravel from a pit.' is a common subject for conversation. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. trifles." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most second." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the thin, with a long, sharp nose?" gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of bed dies. Does not that strike you?" rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking upon the shelf for the interim." "Precisely." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers some terrible trap for her." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Frankly, then, madam, I do not."