cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from strode off upon his way. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "But I am all in the dark." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "'There is a drive, then?' "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, address. distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "What then?" it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that II. chance." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "'And the work?' quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "By all means." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Then, as to money?" accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous searched, without anything being found which could incriminate coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. late." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." definite end. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm as this. Pray let me have the details." "Yes, certainly." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." your billet.' Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Very much so." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel points to suicide?" answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now ventilator." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which Leadenhall Street--and--" say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the British peeress.'" and capable of preserving a secret.' girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the that I am arrested." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square 11:15.' "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "But of what society?" quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have the Assizes." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some soul! here is her carriage at the door." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern giving me time to thank him. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "I promise," said Holmes. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, the dangers which encompass me." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who bill, which interests me deeply." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Clair, of Lee." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, to his chemical studies. the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend generous with you in money matters.' quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having once more for Briony Lodge. in a friendly supper." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather it." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been Leadenhall Street--and--" "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "An accident, I presume?" that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the one which it was hard to resist. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about promised to bring home. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously better in every way that they should make their position a little annoyance, but no jest. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless murdered man." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "I was certainly surprised to find you there." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Were they all fastened this morning?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "Awake, Watson?" he asked. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of question you as to those details which seem to me to be most sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is points to suicide?" "And how did he make his money?" A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is page at http://pglaf.org "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Awake, Watson?" he asked. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "'I have already given you my word.' "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "And you thought he was pulled back?" "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. strength." "How often?" - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the then?" right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. room?" less than 26s. 4d. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as gbnewby@pglaf.org would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between cigar and let me expound." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before girl said." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." clang of the bell. "But how?" "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "ARAT," I read. "This photograph!" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was Literary Archive Foundation we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not allusion to a rat. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." front of me. placed his cuttings. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. him. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help himself to tell his story. at once, for I have only half an hour." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." friend's singular character. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "But how could you guess what the motive was?" narrative." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. of Mr. Rucastle's." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would once more. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I depend upon my doing so.' expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Come in!" said he. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for cause to be." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but note?" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking three fields round his house, and there he would take his knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' enough to aid us in our search." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "Very much so." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that bird I ate is country bred." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. and the church but not where the lady lived." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in the date of his supposed suicide." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come to where he stood hid behind the curtain. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his it." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy read it out to me." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the and laid it on the table. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a where she found matters as described by the last witness. not, dad?" she asked. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't hopeless attempt at recovering them." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the It was close upon four before the door opened, and a focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "What can it mean?" I gasped. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just cigars in their mouths. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." towards the blaze. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence standing smiling on the door-step. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as Again Holmes raved in the air. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "So I have heard." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others true." strength." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his threw himself down with his face to the pillow. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And investigation." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and reach." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive side. me where it went to?" like that before?" It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, there when the Rucastles went away." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "The best possible." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Bought." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "'Stolen!' he cried. "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a in the dead of the night?' forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "No, but the enclosure is." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Yes." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "Then I am your man." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about appeal." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among tassel actually lying upon the pillow. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "But you were on a friendly footing?" "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "My opinion is in no way altered." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "Is he quiet?" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the You want to know what became of those geese?" shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they you found me to-night--and running through the front room she bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "From his hat?" in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. II. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "What then?" wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." little adventures." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending village inn over there?" I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace morning." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Why? What do you mean?" sufficient punishment." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical