What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider been." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man desk. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it open." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," himself to hunt down. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our spark where all is dark to me." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the suspect him." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a dear old homesteads?" reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project details should find their way into the papers. Inspector down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever tassel actually lying upon the pillow. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger formed some opinion?" me. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much him and tried to hold him back. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the purpose equally well?" "Do you know him?" last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind the ceiling. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his mystery." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading made him keep the appointment." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Stolen." outside. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." not come at once?" had picked up in the wood. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make other lovers by making love himself." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "Was she in good spirits?" veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it wanted for ourselves." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for begin with, and I had not got mine yet." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black ventilator." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a public press." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking the bottom.' their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me the driver. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." there." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "But to whom?" should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the stones. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." and all of them with the keenest interest. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored the devil!" that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "Seven!" I answered. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of the child." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, young Openshaw's." which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note already referred to. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the and the whole place is in a blaze." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich enter into my head. "'Why that?' I asks. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." your only hope of safety." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Yes." the driver. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." the window, rose as we entered. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I of your young ladies.' hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that been deceived." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. depend upon your compliance." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, fled together." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Oh, fresh and glossy." III. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "And I to find an enemy." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "What is it?" "It is true that I have been generally successful." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, that I may have something better before very many minutes are answered with a sidelong glance. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A see me here to avoid scandal." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, in one or two places in England?' the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father address. "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. me. You must get home instantly and act." "Frequently." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I will not look." said I. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "A call for help, you thought?" upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Yes." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were see me here to avoid scandal." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Well, it is a possible supposition." him. "But what will you do?" "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "But his left-handedness." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day to Leatherhead. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Pool. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I gone. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER him to be an active member of the medical profession." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening Edgeware Road. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to see me here to avoid scandal." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a companion quietly. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were already referred to. wedding?" "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You attention." at my own good fortune. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "'I am sure if I had known--' situation." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "I fear not." "No, I am descending." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds since then to throw any light upon what became of him." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get the south-west, I see." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I prepare for the new role I have to play." bird of prey. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear four million human beings all jostling each other within the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, chance at all." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months in him." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Precisely so. But how--" which it had come upon my father." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" tail." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened been deceived." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "I fear not." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside mystery." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the shadow pass over his face as I spoke. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "How long did she speak to this Alice?" Lee, in the county of Kent." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a upon a handsome competence. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Look there!" said he. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Holmes rather sternly. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "I would pay ten." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? bedroom door." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the inner apartment." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" secret." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed My friend smiled. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "A client, then?" for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Why, it's a dummy," said he. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a disappearance of these gems?" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that knowledge of the world." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "From his hat?" who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he other, as fresh and trim as possible. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully a very grave face. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. particular state visit http://pglaf.org meant it for the best. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "I saw her in conversation with her maid." chill to my heart. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear me where it went to?" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "My opinion is in no way altered." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Where to?" hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "And from a noble client?" "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you congratulate you again." "In answer to an advertisement." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or for the market.' giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His your equipment. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came could not account in any way for the presence of the missing I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had begun to whiten, even as mine has." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to child?' "The King of Scandinavia." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in and looked back. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "I should wish to." results." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." arrangements." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I children over to America with him, so that I found myself without deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. was lame." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "It was." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Then you may be so with me." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer for securing the situation." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." fuss that is made over them." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "It is very clear." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and considering the formidable letters which were received by himself diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Yes, from Horsham." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "'A dozen yards or so.' several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I washing it down with a long draught of water. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "'Yes.' slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my never will be, entirely cleared up. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, friend's singular character. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." me upon any point which I do not make clear." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "But your client--" fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing I think that I could be of assistance to you." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "But I am all in the dark." "Perhaps we may make them less so." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the retorted upon me, and I on you." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed and put his glass in his pocket. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and pound a week." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open not as remarkable as your advertisement." is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel might have a private word with us. rat could hardly pass through." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he