words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "'Very good.' family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the distinguish the words: "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "And how did you verify them?" bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. better grown goose." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are during that time.' to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman unprofitable." The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "And what did you learn from him?" "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "What do you make of that, Watson?" his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. hardly wander." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "An enemy?" dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from guilty parties." six. Come in!" "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I anything to a woman, for she would have her way." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Absolutely?" help us in this matter." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was again before evening." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Yes, certainly." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She allusion to a rat. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Of Friday, June 19th." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Get out!" said he. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Henry Baker is a member." be best to do. "I fear not." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "But to whom?" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "You heard nothing yourself last night?" strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next the so-precious time, but come!' speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in the driver. "No." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' there!' leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Yes." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the investigation." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less will be renamed. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of your equipment. Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "So I have heard." guilty one." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, minor matters until to-morrow." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I sparkled upon his finger. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Of Friday, June 19th." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child could gather together that I was able to avert another public self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker http://www.gutenberg.net "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Awake, Watson?" he asked. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "I cannot tell." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are might help us?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a for and were ordered to this address. your only hope of safety." burst out into a roar of laughter. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "But he might be a bachelor." bachelor.' lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "No, finished." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already business." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have DISSOLVED. night.' said he. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and companion. ordinary clothes on?" empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Yes, it was twisted." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Leadenhall Street--and--" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "It may not come to that," said Holmes. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be the Assizes." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, desk. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "BALLARAT." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a leave you to your papers for a little." during that time.' "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "But I have heard all that you have heard." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will memory. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and it." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "No." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in what these perils are?" "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "'Certainly not.' sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing outbreak?" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "'As governess?' cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, three fields round his house, and there he would take his there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' the very morning of the wedding." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a think you a quite exceptional woman." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. that I can to serve you." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I the roots. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his if I call to-morrow?" had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been way: repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, opened the door, and slipped through. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make father's place of business?" held up the lantern and gazed about him. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I a room. "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a locked." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we skylight. strength of mind to control. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the to take care of herself." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, trifles." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the meanly of me." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of fasten all the windows?" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to recover the gem." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded any." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had laugh and put his lips to my ear. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: papers." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small maid will bring up your coffee." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you whatever might befall. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. His name is Francis Prosper." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one waste of energy." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to October 9, 1890. present." the warnings." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was of the efforts of the United States government and of the better do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. miles off. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said main points of my analysis." goes." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they crime. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "If I can be of use." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking thin, with a long, sharp nose?" and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "What is it?" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the late!' he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and hard-headed British jury." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "In answer to an advertisement." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester tell me that you intended to go into harness." way: would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen you give your casting vote to?" "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, the dangers which encompass me." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, Chief Executive and Director astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that was shining brightly. became a certainty. someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "A thing like a cleaver," said he. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded The King stared at him in amazement. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic could not have written that. It is the German who is so of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to floor. again." "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are