me. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his at my own good fortune. soul! here is her carriage at the door." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Has he come with you to-night?" interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' chambers. come either from the window or the door. My attention was the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next you in yours." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "On Monday." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, McCarthy's innocence. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to burst out into a roar of laughter. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this business." him to be an active member of the medical profession." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked maid will bring up your coffee." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was unprecedented a position." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I cannot imagine." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold once more to my work. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" character. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "I cannot say that I have." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very one of the states of the Union." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the bird of prey. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had papers on the sundial.'" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "I will, Miss Turner." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. morning." "Yes?" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "No more words. Get out!" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his constraint." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, good for you to do.' "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some call the police, let the police find what they can.' The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the was feeling which was the fattest.' what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "What then?" could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Leadenhall Street--and--" newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. were wasted." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then then?" she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. fattened it expressly for you.' nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "I was mad--insane." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly awkward doing business with an alias." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "Yes, only one." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing of a light. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "From his hat?" in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the face and glided from the room. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "'I have already given you my word.' hard-headed British jury." of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked and the church but not where the lady lived." really the only notable feature about the thing." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave carriage. It was a chestnut." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining voice, changing her seat as requested. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Very well, sir. And this stone?" and I shall be with you presently." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." up this clue while it is still hot." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to an introduction to him?" Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, the King without delay." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "The best possible." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen could not account in any way for the presence of the missing forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a habit of advancing money.' "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the words came to my lips. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has married her." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel with the outside air!" and the colonel ushered me in. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." opened the door, and slipped through. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Perhaps I have." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "No legal papers or certificates?" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a the tragedy. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. maiden herself was most instructive." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "But you can know nothing of this?" Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "How do you know, then?" "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." back to my heart. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "In answer to an advertisement." breakfast." the matter." "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my imbecility!" he cried. congratulate you again." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four if only as a check to my own memory." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "What office?" possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he to Leatherhead. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I ceremony." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had foresight and the moral retrogression?" the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "How on earth--" "And your mother is alive?" unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Texas, I think." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, whatever might befall. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "An accident, I presume?" A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Could he throw no light?" of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "It certainly sounds feasible." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, have had none more fantastic than this." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank better grown goose." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "We have tried and failed." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "And the murderer?" heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an telegram would bring me down to your help." make me his representative both with the servants and with the quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "My own seal." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Where did he live, then?" unkempt, staring out at me. left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone room had already been engaged for us. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I peculiar to him. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "Yes." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "In answer to an advertisement." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of will be renamed. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "She showed me, as I told you she would." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "And Miss Sutherland?" three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Really! You surprise me." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Then, as to money?" "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it house for five minutes.' through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "And I to find an enemy." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "I shall be delighted." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Your French gold?" sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking to surprise her." death." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the mysterious business." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." corner of the building. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower shadow pass over his face as I spoke. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "What I expected to see." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Dr. Gregory B. Newby "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have country, and eventually married, without anyone having a thin legs towards the fire. feature." child?' belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which at my own good fortune. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "And how did you verify them?" My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and attention." "Where did he live, then?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Quite so. She has her freedom." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "None." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the hair?' this remarkable episode. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. him." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled