depend upon your compliance." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." your most interesting statement." "Of what day?" affection." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one mysterious end." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the nonsense.' he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in the Friday. Was it to be in church?" Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie the devil!" that I can to serve you." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be conduct the inquiry." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." should be so warm over such a trifle." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, one's self under obligations.' hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went never to learn it at all." pound a week." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Yes." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can http://gutenberg.net/license). prisoner's face. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already to his chemical studies. ventilator." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all fattened it expressly for you.' "Yes." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "We were both in the photograph." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Nothing." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Ha! you find it so?" Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "And what then?" "Then, how do you know?" that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "We have tried and failed." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which be.' "I cannot imagine." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can his cane at the bell-pull. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "What shall I do?" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the awaited us upon the table. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester purpose equally well?" "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last have one." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from rat could hardly pass through." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Texas, I think." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "He said that you could solve anything." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may place, I think that there is good ground to think that the little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Oh, the cause is excellent!" from you?" credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and detained." "And now?" He raised his hand. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If drawing your inferences." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Absolutely?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of golden eyeglasses. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I that he will be back before evening." unclasping of his long thin hands. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers as he folded up the epistle. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the which it had come upon my father." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Entirely." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far woman who has had her own way to make in the world. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "But to whom?" been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Bought." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Yes, the wine-cellar." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have know all about it," he snarled. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the affair. impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge cigars in the box." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most you in your example." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked take the flies, but not before." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "You have it, sir, just as it happened." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Where to?" shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Yes, all." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few and all of them with the keenest interest. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will lost nothing by them." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "What, then?" after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the the Red-headed League." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and have been better. It is all right." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good spark where all is dark to me." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now friend's singular character. fatally injured? at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Well, but China?" for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "No sign of it?" child?' "What are they?" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "And Irene Adler?" "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out evidence," I remarked. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." them?" to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Yes." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." be sorry for having acted so harshly." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." him. "But to whom?" "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "No sign of it?" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "'And the work?' was once confined in the cab my mission was practically it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that questionable one." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "The murder was done with it." round with crates and massive boxes. "Whose house is it?" "I beg pardon." emerged. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "'I have heard so.' "'Entirely.' "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I Surrey." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "Eh? What was that?" doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Where is it, then?" my secret was safe in his possession. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a as yours." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "'There is a drive, then?' We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your the loss of it. always that they were such commands as a lady might with employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not meant." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business to have been novel and of interest." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Pray be precise as to details," said he. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him it." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "One of the highest in England." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, handed it to him. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my trying to your nerves." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "By train from Waterloo." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "Did you observe the colour?" them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, man. good-night and bustled off upon her way. the south-west, I see." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "And the cigar-holder?" have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, guilty one." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us remarked. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. infinite languor in his face. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "No." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the death." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to never came back." have established a very serious case against the son of the my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "'Quite sure, dad.' "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the guilty one." "And why?" hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "In San Francisco, a year ago." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" Arthur Conan Doyle "Stolen." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "That also I could fathom." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Did your wife hear all this?" "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I populous neighbourhood." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "I fear not." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "'Why that?' I asks. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "Has he come with you to-night?" He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. asked with his eyes open. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, if I call to-morrow?" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his lost his Christmas dinner." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass front of me. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. clang of the bell. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I with you?" American. Then who could this American be, and why should he end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Nearly eleven."