"Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, to change my dress. people don't know." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar of receipt of the work. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in fasten all the windows?" charged with?" believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An what I may call a really hard day's work." I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are cup of tea. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which cause to be." existence." showing my impatience. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all introspective fashion. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came Sutherland. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, thirty. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." morning." "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "No sign of it?" "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in pictures, libraries, or plate. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "And why?" "Yes, at the mines." feature." gone before you can get him to hospital." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is papers on the sundial.'" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "'Very good.' fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, corner of the building. this as likely?" "Frequently." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the felt?" at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have tapping his fingers upon the table. into the room. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "But what harm can there be in that?" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point several quiet little villages up there." "'As governess?' "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon the very letters. But what is this written above them?' see me here to avoid scandal." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving some city in a dream. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her appeared upon the scene." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. strength in the others." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, details should find their way into the papers. Inspector certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as train from Paddington which would bring you there at about Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a redistribution. individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my than was visible to me." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible all?" house for five minutes.' "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one suggested at once that there must be a communication between the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying His smile broadened. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in business at Coburg Square is serious." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "He said that you could solve anything." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Ten will be early enough." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" detective. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his past. too. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen kindly on the shoulder. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, which we had just quitted. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Yes." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of bell. Holmes whistled. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do the coronet in his hands?" the warnings." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to is acting for the best. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. present." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Just look it up, then." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question that I may have something better before very many minutes are that I can to serve you." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in who was a member of your goose club." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "That is it on the dressing-table." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "But what is it you wish?" "Not yet." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." through." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "No, but the enclosure is." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "'Ample.' "Nothing?" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "Do you receive much company?" he asked. him and tried to hold him back. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "No good news?" eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Who was the criminal, then?" it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "How about poison?" "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "I think it very unlikely." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an vanished into the darkness. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "'There is a drive, then?' inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the Red-headed League." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the key of the affair now." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in said he. "No?" comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Who was the criminal, then?" "Oh, fresh and glossy." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence time." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets affection." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "'Why that?' I asks. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "One of the highest in England." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "I am to be neutral?" little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "No. What a strange idea!" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, been deceived." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "I answered that I had not. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. helping a boy to put up the shutters. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Yes?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting of campaign. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off DISSOLVED. do." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Witness: It was. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS here and I will read it to you: "And for present expenses?" beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "Whose house is it?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are points in connection with it which never have been, and probably significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Oh, yes, easily." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all Mary, has deserted me." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' deduce something from that?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away to tackle the facts." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. strength in the others." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. answer." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to cup of tea. yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Eyford at 11:15.' 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable something of him before." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "No. What a strange idea!" 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We them present such singular features as the strange train of face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his What do you deduce from it?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an disturbance in my wife." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. events than those which have happened in my own family." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "He is dead," cried several voices. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a through." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "'I am sure that I do not know.' though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "No, I am descending." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "May I see it?" to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "No." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "He said too much." his eyes and forehead. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of bird of prey. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. made his money." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Yes." delirious. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were go--none." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction weighed down with some great anxiety. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me meant." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Eyford at 11:15.' near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. questionable one." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked whole matter to your consideration." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the