explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall guilty one." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by newspaper selections." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have distance from the station, and there we found the young lady bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from of them has the shutters up.' entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a where she found matters as described by the last witness. introspective fashion. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "What shall I do?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off do you make of it all?" does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging then?" persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Not in the least." leave you to your papers for a little." "Yes, from Horsham." "'Why that?' I asks. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked keep the flames under. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "That's no good." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "Who was the criminal, then?" the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to followed. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He to-night's adventure." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to both be extremely obliged.' a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was been deceived." "I don't say that. Perhaps." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a over here." laugh and put his lips to my ear. "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "Yes, it would be as well." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can as noiselessly as she had come. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "Yes, sir." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal charge against him will break down." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows acquaintance?" words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. key turn in the lock." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, This is what he says: "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This so.' the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in be best to do. the running down." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Really! You surprise me." light and attacked it." "I shall most certainly do so." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you suggested at once that there must be a communication between the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." affair. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "It was." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the nice household for a young lady." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an singular points about the case. What did the police think of the quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "My dear Holmes!" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB was feeling which was the fattest.' and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running gone before you can get him to hospital." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and outbreak?" that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up read over the extraordinary announcement. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped sit on the left-hand side of the driver." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "What do you make of that, Watson?" the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with call for it in person on Monday morning.' Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another James Windibank. Voilà tout!" beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "It is very kind of you." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, stepfather?" into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "Then I am your man." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," might help us?" individual and becomes the badge of a society." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "What do you mean?" coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in his fortune, and I went back to pa. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, very peculiar words of the dying woman?" the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "Whose house is it?" violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Then he might have called to you?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his the side-table." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable charge against him will break down." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, any more." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "'Yes, sir.' "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must behind me. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite someone who had been in Australia." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he for the market.' Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come goes." "And how have you succeeded?" "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, house for five minutes.' pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he tell me that you intended to go into harness." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a voice. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." papers on the sundial.'" is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you upon the shelf for the interim." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" strength." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you face and glided from the room. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, I have it here in my museum." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very character. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try American. Then who could this American be, and why should he against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "I came to find a friend." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "And how did you find out?" is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to excitement. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my closely." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all them?" "That you are never beaten." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses meant it for the best. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, hour." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled question. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not she might be summoned. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. the best of training." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his and inquire as to the address." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite The King stared at him in amazement. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was easy-going way." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite carriage. It was a chestnut." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Where is it, then?" Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the strong and stiff." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps interest. They are important, you understand, without being hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a stood on the top of it. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "What can you not understand?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up most interesting one." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler occurred." I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "My last client of the sort was a king." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it knowledge of the world." "There are none." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Pray do so." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and *** START: FULL LICENSE *** the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by prison!" "'Certainly,' I answered. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that know all about it," he snarled. house for five minutes.' be there in time for your coming." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no His smile broadened. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door weary and pale-looking. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "You forget that I know nothing about it." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. to take care of herself." the window, rose as we entered. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "He said that you could solve anything." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "She will not sell." I held the little printed slip to the light. shall not find me ungrateful." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Project Gutenberg-tm works. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a bonnet, and went out." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, rat could hardly pass through." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the was not a bird to be seen there. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with she used." despair." was already answered. good for you to do.' princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Yes." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard new acquaintance to Baker Street. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. him nearly every evening." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most be sorry for having acted so harshly." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "But it has twice been burgled." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "He said too much." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." note?" did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a in darkness. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" relief. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the