disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the front of me. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at that I can to serve you." flock.' beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Won't it ring?" as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A wife's character?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is easy-going way." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. you." the tragedy. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece could go. and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. is worth.' One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "'Very good.' Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "I have my revolver," said I. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I like that before?" It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day over with notes and figures. "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Yes, the wine-cellar." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be there!' scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and tell him that I know him to be innocent." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Not I." "He said that you could solve anything." where she found matters as described by the last witness. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we the Red-headed League." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. do." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "'Stolen!' he cried. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "By no means." "'I am sure that I do not know.' All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Then he might have called to you?" the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "No, I had a dozen." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to burst out into a roar of laughter. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all people in all walks of life. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" suspect him." "It is very kind of you." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the companion. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort them present such singular features as the strange train of "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "It's nothing of the kind." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to in the hope of finding them." have I gained?" the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Thank you. And your address?" abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in see a sister of mine apply for." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." giving me time to thank him. hour." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could system of imprisonment?" Sutherland. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. outsides of the windows. promised to bring home. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell trifles." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her some water from a caraffe. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. late!' "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was of it with the greatest attention. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its direction." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a best detective that ever lived. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "None." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "I shall be delighted." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "They are typewritten," I remarked. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the bachelor.' by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Was she in good spirits?" What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Then how many are there?" until night should bring an explanation. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "What do you mean?" rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Yes." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. yourselves in at night?" "Precisely so. But how--" 'I should be able to look after that for you.' rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. could gather together that I was able to avert another public http://gutenberg.net/license). very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were considering the formidable letters which were received by himself When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive tightly behind him. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "But your client--" it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has despair." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Married! When?" Pope's Court, Fleet Street." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what helping a boy to put up the shutters. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Breckinridge is his name." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my you for a few hours?" the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes six. Come in!" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called lids now and glanced across at his visitor. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included window when the police appeared." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER maid will bring up your coffee." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before case-book, which he consulted. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the was used.' freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have the King without delay." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little it right.' been shamefully used." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the night.' "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." to me. ceremony." be sorry for having acted so harshly." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert points in connection with it which never have been, and probably constraint." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, examine." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "And why?" salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put bill, which interests me deeply." nothing of it?" hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where views." "By all means." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up ago." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I spark where all is dark to me." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "A client, then?" "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the official police." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to the date of his supposed suicide." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, death." "'I am sure if I had known--' have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. chance at all." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly been lifted and conveyed somewhere." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Pope's Court. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "One of the highest in England." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Why, what do you mean?" nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just and your relations to her." "At what time?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when nothing with him." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we any more." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Here?" where we are going." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Come in!" said Holmes. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may face and glided from the room. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon locked. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. you." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been characteristics, but those are the more obvious." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "None." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked Mrs. Toller serenely. streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." he. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads them, and came down just as you departed. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this The summons was a brief and urgent one. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "But what will you do?" Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp The King stared at him in amazement. power." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily fattened it expressly for you.' face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for is acting for the best. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "What have you done?" asked Holmes. away into the river." the best of training." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which is acting for the best. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, works. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. think you a quite exceptional woman." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That it means?" her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you Dr. Gregory B. Newby placed his cuttings. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have