"Yes, it was twisted." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS footfalls from the street. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "'Yes, sir.' would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "What, then, did Peterson do?" that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders with the outside air!" "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "Will you go?" said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us clanging. point in the dark hollow of his hand. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "My Mary? Impossible!" hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United you, my dear young lady?' partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, province." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian British peeress.'" I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "Whose house is it?" lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "None." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle it." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss there in twenty minutes." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Did your wife hear all this?" it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, cigar and let me expound." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a you understand?" The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "I say that I have solved it." as he folded up the epistle. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a was lame." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by some terrible trap for her." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "You have carte blanche." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "You saw the ventilator, too?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that were unconscious?" passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, invisible to me," I remarked. heavily into it. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. girl said." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "At what time?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "What shall I do?" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's money should be paid at once.' narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling would apply.' "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man the side-table." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "'Yes, it was gone.' my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "And how did you find out?" "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called I shall communicate with you." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "I would pay ten." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police one of the states of the Union." I leave." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Witness: Nothing definite. burst out into a roar of laughter. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." strength of mind to control. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong less than 26s. 4d. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. galvanised. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" dead, shall be safe with us." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the strength of mind to control. stalked out of the room. if she died from some sudden fright." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made third from London." wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "I cannot imagine." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw presume?" thought that she would have been so carried away." "Perhaps we may make them less so." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "'And what are they worth?' I asked. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. points to suicide?" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "You are hungry," I remarked. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "It is a murder, then?" took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" respectable self." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we threw himself down with his face to the pillow. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. God! What an exposure! What can I do?" A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a footfalls from the street. you." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Do you know him?" squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "But his left-handedness." gone. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Oh, the cause is excellent!" hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser know that the truth is known." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up these bleak autumnal evenings." giving me time to thank him. returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of front of me. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a was it brought him the coronet? coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "In answer to an advertisement." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Edgeware Road. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was was shining brightly. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as character. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He For additional contact information: together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "No sign of it?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "No." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away upon a handsome competence. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty the date of his supposed suicide." behind me. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very a little more before I quite committed myself. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Why? What do you mean?" low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich important." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know character. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, as the one I chose?' which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to and that he would see to anything that turned up. "'Where to?' wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in name is different." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to the coroner come to?" have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, the station." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down cost them two and thirty pounds." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to details." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "But how?" a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' again." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "'Never,' said I. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "How often?" swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Yes." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "I am still in the dark." to have been novel and of interest." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred annoyance, but no jest. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been little trying to do so much typewriting?" Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a whether it answered to the description of any of their joking. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "And for present expenses?" "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for was once confined in the cab my mission was practically Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am and the whole place is in a blaze." "'Certainly not.' "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat you want, then?' Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my in your London, you will know that the office of the company is if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn tightly behind him. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of business at Coburg Square is serious." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I and laid it on the table. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in as yours." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. vault. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "'You cannot say what it was?' the date of his supposed suicide." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear as noiselessly as she had come. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "What office?" father's young wife. came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "I have my revolver," said I. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she without a word or a look. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to conceal it?" of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Murdered?" from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any dramatic, in fact." "No bad?" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary spark where all is dark to me." done what I asked you, Jones?" have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Where did he live, then?" recover the gem." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." the house with me." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side you understand?" compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "And you thought he was pulled back?" long narrative. and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side at home. interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the your Highness to the police-station?" The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. south, for the country is more deserted there." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly,